THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN • JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES • NEWSLETTER 2017 OF GEOSCIENCES SCHOOL • JACKSON AT AUSTIN OF TEXAS UNIVERSITY THE Newsletter2 017

Chicxulub Revealed A first look at rocks from the crater left by the asteroid that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs WELCOME

Dear Alumni and Friends

he devastation that Hurricane Harvey brought to Texas communities in August was a tragic reminder of how vital it is to understand our planet and T its processes. Shortly after the hurricane struck, our scientists, through our Rapid Response program, began to conduct research to understand how Harvey has impacted the coast and offshore Gulf of Mexico. This research will help determine the best ways to deal with many coastal issues in the aftermath of the storm, and how we might better prepare for such events in the future. You can read more about the mission on page 18. Rapid response efforts on the effects of abrupt, catastrophic geoscience events COVER: GRANITE FROM THE PEAK RING OF provide critical science that can benefit society. This is what we strive to do here at the THE CHICXULUB CRATER FORMED BY THE Jackson School of Geosciences. This year’s Newsletter holds some tremendous examples. ASTEROID STRIKE THAT WIPED OUT ALL NON- AVIAN DINOSAURS I’d like to draw your attention to the story on page 58 about the scientific coring mission led by Peter Flemings to bring back samples of methane hydrate from ABOVE: MEMBERS OF THE JACKSON beneath the Gulf of Mexico. This is a cutting-edge research project on a potential SCHOOL-LED TEAM CORING FOR SAMPLES OF METHANE HYDRATE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO future energy source that very few schools in the world would be able to mount. We should all be very proud of Peter and his team. OPPOSITE PAGE: ABOVE: PH.D. STUDENTS STEPHEN FERENCZ (LEFT) AND MIKE On page 98 you can get a first look at the cores brought up by a team co-led by O’CONNOR IN THE KUPARUK RIVER Sean Gulick from the Chicxulub crater—the impact site of the asteroid that killed WATERSHED, NORTH SLOPE, ALASKA. all non-avian dinosaurs. On page 68, you will see a roundup up of the work our BELOW: THE 2017 GEO 660 FIELD CAMP IN MONTANA’S SAWTOOTH MOUNTAINS scientists and researchers are doing on Mars. Here again, these are large scientific missions with breadth and depth few schools could match. It has been a successful year of science and education at the Jackson School, but one also punctuated by loss. We lost a tremendously talented researcher and friend with the passing of Kirk McIntosh, and a giant in the field with the passing of former UT President and Bureau of Economic Geology Director Peter Flawn. They will be sorely missed, but not forgotten. You will find a memorial to each in the back of the Newsletter. Many of our own in the Jackson School family live and work in communities ravaged by Harvey. We hope that reading this year’s Newsletter will give you a little respite from the hard work of putting your homes and lives back together. We also hope it will make you proud to be part of the Jackson School family. We are thinking of you, and you will continue to be in our thoughts.

Sharon Mosher, Dean

2017 Newsletter | 1 FEATURES IN EVERY ISSUE

58 Fueling the Future 4 Research Highlights A group of Jackson School 54 scientists and students embark on a high-stakes research mission to 22 Newsmakers retrieve cores of methane hydrate from beneath the Gulf of Mexico. 24 Profiles

68 Mars Geology Missions 34 Outreach From discovering hidden deposits of ice to locating the 40 Awards & Honors perfect spot to send the next Mars rover, Jackson School 47 Library Report geoscientists are unravelling the mysteries of the Red Planet. NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS 48 Field Camps

73 John Dewey 52 Presentations Thoughts from one of the founding fathers of the theory 10 Jackson School Among 39 Geosciences 54 Field Experiences of plate tectonics on geology, World’s Best Across Texas education, and his own Two recent global rankings have From the coast to the Permian 102 Donors illustrious career. found that the Jackson School is Basin, Jackson School research one of the top in the world for is helping the environment, 109 Advisory Council 78 Fossil Feathers, scientific productivity. economy and communities NOTES FROM THE FIELD throughout Texas. 111 Alumni Notes Winging & Singing Innovative research by Professor 18 Rapid Response to 122 Memorials Julia Clarke is revealing how Hurricane Harvey 132 Remembering a Friend birds have evolved and what Jackson School geoscientists have and Champion that means for modern birds and converged on the Texas Coast to A special memorial for former ancient dinosaurs. help determine the best way to UT President and Bureau of deal with coastal issues in the Economic Geology Director 84 Petra Nova BREAKING wake of Hurricane Harvey. Peter Flawn written by Professor William L. Fisher, the Jackson School geoscientsts BARRIERS Jackson School’s inaugural dean. are playing a key role in a 26 Jack Sharp groundbreaking environmental After 35 years on campus, project that is trapping carbon Professor Jack Sharp is retiring, from a coal plant. leaving a legacy of top-notch research and inspired students. 88 Women in UT Geology 88 From independent oil finders to pioneering micropaleontologists, UT women have been making geosciences THE NEWSLETTER, A TRADITION SINCE 1950, IS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY FOR FRIENDS AND SEND COMMUNICATIONS TO: EXPLORING ALUMNI OF THE JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN. NEWSLETTER EDITOR history since the beginning. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN EDITOR: ANTON CAPUTO ART DIRECTION: RYAN GOELLER JACKSON SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES NEW WORLDS 2305 SPEEDWAY, STOP C1160 98 Chicxulub Revealed ASSOCIATE EDITOR: MONICA KORTSHA GRAPHIC DESIGN: DANA TAYLOR AUSTIN, TX 78712-1692 Core samples from the crater tell CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: SARAH BLOODWORTH, AD DESIGN: LAURA MARTIN PHONE: 512-232-9623 the story of the day all non-avian ANTON CAPUTO, BAYANI CARDENAS, WILLIAM FISHER, FAX: 512-471-5585 dinosaurs died. JESSICA HALL, JOHN HOLDEN, JACK HOLT, MONICA EMAIL: [email protected] KORTSHA, JOSHUA LIVELY, BARBRA RODRIGUEZ, WEB: JSG.UTEXAS.EDU 68 GEORGIA SANDERS, DENNIS TROMBATORE

UT JSG @TX GEOSCIENCES JSG UT AUSTIN @TXGEOSCIENCES TITAN’S THREE LARGEST LAKES AND THEIR SURROUNDING RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS AREAS AS SEEN BY THE CASSINI RADAR INSTRUMENT. THE RESEARCHERS USED THE INSTRUMENT TO STUDY WAVES ON THE LAKE SURFACES.

Smooth Lakes

A TRANSPARENT VIEW OF THE DOMED SKULL OF TRIOPTICUS PRIMUS AND BRAIN on Titan

Planetary Sciences

The lakes of liquid methane on Saturn’s Ancient Texas Reptile moon, Titan, are perfect for paddling but not for surfing. Research led by Finding the Origin of Earth’s Iron Discovered After 70 Years the Jackson School has found that most waves on Titan’s lakes reach only Planetary Sciences Climate, Carbon & Geobiology about 1 centimeter high, a finding that indicates a serene environment that The iron at our planet’s core is unique rocky bodies in the solar system) created An extinct reptile that roamed Texas more than 200 million years ago had a could be good news for future probes among known worlds, having a higher high pressure and high temperature strikingly dome-shaped head with a very thick skull and a large natural pit on top sent to the surface of that moon. level of heavy iron isotopes than conditions during core formation that that lends the appearance of an extra eye. “There’s a lot of interest in one day anywhere else in the known solar made different proportions of heavy and The skull of the new species, called Triopticus primus, meaning “the first with sending probes to the lakes, and when system. The reason why our planet light iron isotopes accumulate in the three eyes,” was scanned at the Jackson School of Geosciences CT lab, which that’s done, you want to have a safe ended up with the heavy stuff has long core and mantle. This resulted in a larger allowed the researchers to reconstruct the skull’s internal anatomy. Researchers landing, and you don’t want a lot of wind,” Climate, Carbon & Geobiology thought to be linked to the formation of share of heavy iron isotopes bonding at Virginia Tech led the study that looked at the 230-million-year-old skull found said lead author Cyril Grima, a research the Earth’s core. But new research led with elements that make up the rocky in the Jackson School collection. associate at the University of Texas Energy Geosciences by the Jackson School of Geosciences mantle, while lighter iron isotopes The findings, published in September 2016 in the journal Current Biology, reveal Institute for Geophysics. “Our study Marine Geosciences is calling into question the prevailing bonded together with other trace metals new clues about the evolutionary history of dinosaurs because the thickened shows that because the waves aren’t Planetary Sciences theory on the events that shaped our to form the Earth’s core. skull roof is nearly identical to that of the distantly related pachycephalosaur very high, the winds are likely low.” planet during its earliest years. But when the research team used a dinosaurs that lived more than 100 million years later. The research was published in the Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes The research, published in Nature diamond anvil to subject small samples Complete details of what Triopticus primus looked like and how big it was are journal Earth and Planetary Science Surface & Hydrologic Processes Communications in February 2017, of metal alloys and silicate rocks to not yet known. For now, researchers only have a fragment of skull. Letters on June 29, 2017. It specifically Other opens the door for other competing core formation pressures, they not only The team’s discovery of this specimen — originally collected by the Work looked at waves on the three largest theories about why the Earth, relative found that both types of iron isotopes Projects Administration (WPA) in 1940 — happened in the Jackson School’s lakes in Titan’s northern hemisphere: to other planets, has higher levels of stayed put, but that the bonds got Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collections in 2010, where it had been lying in Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare and Punga heavy iron isotopes. stronger. Instead of rebonding with plain sight for 70 years. Lead author Michelle Stocker was a Ph.D. student and co- Mare. Grima and his team found that “The Earth’s core formation was common mantle or core elements, the author Sterling Nesbitt was a postdoctoral researcher, both at the Jackson School, waves across these lakes are diminutive, probably the biggest event affecting bonds the heavy and light isotopes were when they found the specimen. Stocker is now a research scientist and Nesbitt an reaching only about 1 centimeter high Earth’s history. Materials that make already in got sturdier. assistant professor, both at Virginia Tech. and 20 centimeters long. up the whole Earth were melted and Jin Liu, now a postdoctoral It is not uncommon for new species to be found in fossil collections around the Titan is the largest moon of Saturn differentiated,” said Jung-Fu Lin, an researcher at Stanford University, led world. The WPA, a Depression-era work program, found so many fossils during and one of the locations in the solar associate professor in the Department the research while earning his Ph.D. its short span of work that they didn’t have time to clean all of them. system that is thought to possess the of Geological Sciences and one of the at the Jackson School. Collaborators “These collections are the foundation of natural history research, and this new ingredients for life. study’s authors. “But in this study, we include scientists from the University animal illustrates how exciting discoveries are continually made thanks to the Collaborators include researchers say that there must be other origins for of Chicago, Sorbonne Universities in forethought and investment of past generations,” said Matthew Brown, co-author from Cornell University, NASA’s Jet Earth’s iron isotope anomaly.” France, Argonne National Laboratory, and director of the Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collections. Propulsion Laboratory and The Johns Lin said that one of the most popular the Center for High Pressure Science Jackson School Professor Timothy Rowe was a co-author, as were former Hopkins University Applied Physics THE IMPACT THAT FORMED THE MOON theories to explain the Earth’s iron and Advanced Technology Research in Jackson School students Katharine Criswell, now a Ph.D. student at the Laboratory. The research was funded by MAY HAVE SENT VAPORIZED LIGHT IRON ISOTOPES INTO SPACE AND LEFT signature is that the relatively large China, and the University of Illinois at University of Chicago, and William Parker, now a paleontologist at Petrified NASA and the California Institute of

HEAVIER IRON ISOTOPES BEHIND. size of the planet (compared with other Urbana–Champaign. EARTH'S ANCIENT IRON: NASA/JPL-CALTECH. REPTILE: WITMERLAB OHIO UNIVERSITY. AT LAKES: TITAN CYRIL GRIMA/UT. Forest National Park. Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

4 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 5 Paleo Lakes Hold Climate Clues

Climate, Carbon & Geobiology

In Antarctica, some lakes that formed during the last ice age stuck around for up to 10,000 years. The sediment these “paleo lakes” left

A MAP CREATED BY UTIG RESEARCHERS DEPICTING FEATURES OF THE OCEANIC CRUST. behind could provide a record for THE COLOR INDICATES THE AGE OF THE CRUST. THE MODERN MID-OCEAN RIDGE SYSTEM IS investigating the continent’s climate. MARKED BY A YELLOW LINE, AND AREAS IN VIOLET OUTLINE LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES. “We think of Antarctica as only producing climate history information from ice cores, but these Breakup of Pangea Cooled lakes were probably much longer lived than previously thought,” said then University of Texas Institute Mantle and Thinned Crust for Geophysics Research Associate Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes Joseph Levy, who led research on the ancient lake remains. The study was published in April The oceanic crust produced by the Earth today is significantly thinner than crust made 2017 in the Geological Society of 170 million years ago during the time of the supercontinent Pangea. America Bulletin. The thinning is related to the cooling of Earth’s interior prompted by the splitting Dino-Killing Asteroid The research used both old- UTIG'S SEAN GULICK (RIGHT) AND IMPERIAL of the supercontinent Pangea, which broke up into the continents that we have today, fashioned radiocarbon dating and COLLEGE LONDON'S JOANNA MORGAN INSPECTING said Harm Van Avendonk, the lead author of the study and a senior research scientist newer optically/infrared stimulated Made Rocks Behave Like Liquid CORES PULLED FROM THE CHICXULUB CRATER at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). The findings were published luminescence (OSL) dating techniques. Marine Geosciences in Nature Geosciences in December 2016. The OSL technique dates sediment “What we think is happening is that the supercontinent was like an insulating directly, instead of relying on algal blanket,” Van Avendonk said. “So when these continents started opening up and the mats and other organic matter as used When the asteroid that wiped out the “It is the same exact kind of feature the Yucatán Peninsula, pushed rock deeper mantle was exposed, more or less, to the atmosphere and the ocean, it started by radiocarbon methods. The research dinosaurs slammed into the Earth 66 that we see on all large impacts on up from six miles below the surface cooling much faster.” found that radiocarbon dates were million years ago, solid rock flowed like rocky planets, whether it be on Venus, to form the peak ring. Those rocks The research started when Van Avendonk and Ph.D. student Jennifer Harding, consistently older than OSL results, a fluid. on Mercury or on the moon,” said travelled approximately 20 miles in a study co-author, noticed an unexpected trend when studying existing data from in some cases up to 10,000 years. The finding was revealed by examining Gulick, who was the expedition’s co- a few minutes, first being pushed young and old seafloor. They analyzed 234 measurements of crustal thickness from “I hope that it sheds light on the cores taken from the Chicxulub crater principal investigator. outward from the impact, then around the world and found that, on a global scale, the oldest ocean crust examined — fact that there were relatively recent, during a scientific drilling mission led The team took core samples of the peak rebounding upward above the Earth’s 170 million year old rock created in the Jurassic — is about one mile thicker than the long-lived lakes in the terrestrial by the Jackson School of Geosciences ring, which is now covered by water and surface and finally collapsing outward crust that’s being produced today. parts of Antarctica that could be and Imperial College London in spring the limestone of the modern Gulf floor. to form a ring of peaks around the The link between crust thickness and age prompted two possible explanations, both used to collect paleoclimate proxies 2016. The results were published in the They found that the asteroid, which center of the impact. related to the fact that hotter mantle tends to make more magma: Mantle hot spots for reconstructing what’s going on at journal Science in November 2016. hit with the force of 10 billion atomic The expedition was conducted — highly volcanic regions, such as the Hawaiian Islands and Iceland — could have the Antarctic coast,” Levy said. The research validates the theory bombs, quickly opened a massive hole by the European Consortium for thickened the old crust by covering it in layers of lava at a later time; or the mantle was that asteroid impacts cause the surface nearly 19 miles deep and 120 miles wide. Ocean Research Drilling as part of hotter in the Jurassic than it is now. of planets to behave like a fluid, said Gulick said he knew they had solved the International Ocean Discovery Van Avendonk mentioned this problem during a casual conversation with Joshua study author Sean Gulick, a research the mystery of how large impacts affect Program and was supported by the “Bud” Davis, a Ph.D. student in UTIG’s plate tectonics research group and co-author, THE REMAINS OF A PALEOLAKE IN GARWOOD professor at the University of Texas the surface when the cores revealed an International Continental Scientific VALLEY, ANTARCTICA who said that the group could investigate both of the explanations using computer Institute for Geophysics (UTIG). It also unmistakable pink granite, which is Drilling Program. The Yucatán models of plate movement since the Jurassic and a global database of hotspots. puts a definitive end to an alternative found deeper in the Earth, as opposed Government, Mexican federal The analysis ruled out the hot spot theory — thick layers of old crust formed explanation that suggested that such to the limestone that was present at the government agencies, and scientists just as easily at distances greater than 600 miles from hotspots, a distance that the impacts, which are common on other time of the impact. from the National Autonomous researchers judged was outside the influence of the hotspots. In contrast, the analysis planets and moons, deform the surface Researchers found that the roughly University of Mexico and the Yucatan supported the hypothesis of mantle heating during the age of Pangea, and mantle by melting most of the rock around 10-mile-wide Chicxulub asteroid, Center for Scientific Research also

cooling after the breakup of the supercontinent. PANGEA BREAKUP: HARM AVENDONK. VAN LAKES: PALEO JOSEPH LEVY. DINO-KILLING ASTEROID: JACKSON SCHOOL. the impact. which hit in the Gulf of Mexico near supported the expedition.

6 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 7 Carbon Sweltering Recipe for Dioxide Southeast Asia Monitoring Climate, Carbon & Geobiology Down Under Scientists at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) have found that a devastating combination of global warming and El Niño is responsible for causing Energy Geosciences extreme temperatures in April 2016 in Southeast Asia. The research, published in June 2017 in Nature Communications, shows that El Niño triggered the heat, causing about half of the warming, while global warming caused Carbon capture and storage injects one-third and raised the heat into record-breaking territories. El Niño is a climate carbon dioxide (CO2) produced pattern that impacts the tropical Pacific, and usually brings warmer temperatures to by industrial processes deep Southeast Asia in April. underground, while environmental In April 2016, high temperatures in mainland Southeast Asia broke all previous monitoring of such sites makes records, exacerbating energy consumption, killing crops and causing human suffering sure the CO2 gas stays put. in Cambodia, Thailand and other countries in the region. Katherine Romanak, a research The researchers used computer model simulations designed to disentangle the scientist at the Bureau of Economic natural and human-made causes of the extreme heat. They also used observations from Geology’s Gulf Coast Carbon land and ocean monitoring systems and found that long-term warming has played an Center, travelled to Queensland, increasing role in rising April temperatures in Southeast Asia. Since 1980, this trend Australia, in spring 2017 to has caused a new temperature record each April following an El Niño. run environmental monitoring “The El Niño system primes mainland Southeast Asia for extremes, although long- experiments for a carbon term warming is undoubtedly exacerbating these hot Aprils,” said UTIG postdoctoral capture and storage project in its fellow Kaustubh Thirumalai, who led the study. preliminary stages. The researchers used statistical techniques to quantify the contributions from El ABOVE: A LOBSTER CLAW THAT MAY COME FROM A NEW SPECIES FOUND AT YA HA TINDA RANCH IN The Carbon Transport and Niño and from long-term warming. Their analysis looked at the 15 hottest April ALBERTA. RIGHT: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ROWAN MARTINDALE WITH A SLAB OF FOSSILIZED BIVALVES Storage Corporation Pty. Ltd. temperatures over the past 80 years. All occurred after 1980, and all but one coincided Surat CCS Demonstration Project with El Niño. They found that while the impact of El Niño fluctuated over the years, is designed to demonstrate the the impact of global warming has steadily increased over time. Looking at the model technical viability, integration predictions for the next 50 years, researchers found that climate change could further and safe operation of carbon amplify the effects of El Niño. Exceptional Fossil Site Records capture and storage in Australia’s “Because of long-term warming, even a weaker El Niño than the 2015-16 event in Surat Basin. Currently in the the mid-to-late 21st century could cause bigger impacts,” said co-author Pedro DiNezio, preliminary stages, the project who is a research associate at UTIG. Jurassic Reef’s Decline is undergoing assessments and Other co-authors include UTIG research associate Yuko Okamuro and Clara Deser, Climate, Carbon & Geobiology approvals in environmental, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. social and technical aspects under various government regulations. A GRAPH SHOWING About 183 million years ago in what Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoeconology in The fossils show that before the Romanak’s research involves THE RELATIVE is now the Canadian town Banff, a Ju l y 2017. anoxic event, the Ya Ha Tinda marine testing different leak detection CONTRIBUTION OF marine ecosystem was teeming with Both studies investigate a recently community was diverse and included EL NIÑO (GREEN methods. One involves testing if BARS) VERSUS shrimp, vampyropods and ichthyosaurs. discovered fossil site in Canada fish, ichthyosaurs (extinct marine simple soil gas ratios can be used GLOBAL WARMING But then a period of low ocean oxygen located at Ya Ha Tinda Ranch near reptiles that looked like dolphins), for real-time leak detection in (RED BARS) FOR THE 15 HOTTEST made life perish and perish beautifully, Banff National Park in southwest sea lilies, lobsters, clams and oysters, hydrocarbon-rich environments. APRILS ON RECORD turning delicate exoskeletons Alberta. The site records fossils ammonites, and coleoids (squid-like Another project involves testing IN MAINLAND that aren’t usually preserved into of organisms that lived about 183 octopods). During the anoxic event, the SOUTHEAST ASIA the degree to which isotopes exceptional fossils. million years ago during the Early community collapsed, restructured, and can be used for leak detection. Research led by Rowan Martindale, Jurassic in a shallow sea that once the organisms living in it shrunk. Romanak’s research project an assistant professor at the Jackson covered the region. Since the oceanic anoxic event is funded by the Australian School of Geosciences, documented the The fossil site broadens the scientific was a side effect of climate change, National Low Emissions Coal diversity of fossils and investigated the record of the Toarcian Oceanic looking back at ancient marine Research and Development impact the low oxygen event had on the Anoxic Event, a period of low oxygen communities could be a window into Ltd. on behalf of the Australian marine ecosystem. The findings were in shallow ocean waters that is the potential impacts of ongoing and coal industry and the Australian respectively published in Geology in hypothesized to be triggered by massive future climate change.

Commonwealth government. MARTINDALE. ROWAN FOSSILS: PRESERVED KAUSTUBH THIRUMALAI. EXCEPTIONALLY RECIPE: SWELTERING January 2017, and in Palaeogeography, volcanic eruptions.

2017 Newsletter | 9 The Great

ABOVE: A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF SHELL SENIOR STEPHANIE SUAREZ DISPLAYS HER RESEARCH THAT KNOCKED THE ANIMAL THAT WAS FOSSILS FROM PERIOD FOLLOWING Dying PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS THE OLDEST LAND-BREATHER FROM ITS PLACE. EXTINCTION. BELOW: A 20-CENT EURO NEXT TO TINY SHELL FOSSILS. Climate, Carbon & Geobiology

Millions of years before the mass “The exceptional preservation Fossil Loses Claim to Fame extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, of the fossil shells show how GeoFORCE Texas Update there was the Permian extinction, or marine ecosystems survive global Great Dying, the planet’s deadliest mass warming,” Foster said. extinction event, and the event that had The second study, published in Some good scientific sleuthing by an Catlos, who obtained the soil the longest recovery. the journal PLOS ONE in March undergraduate at The University of samples from co-author Michael Two studies led by Jackson School 2017, found that life recovered Texas at Austin has helped rewrite one Brookfield of the University of of Geosciences postdoctoral researcher slowly after the Great Dying because of the earliest chapters in the planet’s Massachusetts Boston, tasked Jackson Jackson School Ranks William Foster have shed light on how of two smaller extinction events evolutionary history. The research, led School senior Stephanie Suarez, the marine ecosystems recovered from the that followed the mass extinction. by the Jackson School of Geosciences, paper’s lead author, with finding catastrophic mass extinction event 252 The extinction events are linked has shown that the millipede thought grain-sized zircons in the sediment Among Best in the World million years ago, and why the overall to climate change also caused by to be the world’s oldest known air- that could be dated in the Jackson Research Excellence recovery afterward was slow. Both massive volcanic activity, said breathing land creature is in fact School’s Laser Ablation Inductively center on research of marine fossil beds Foster. He added that the study about 14 million years younger than Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry in Italy. is a step toward understanding previously thought and cannot be the Laboratory. Zircons are minerals that The Jackson School of Geosciences has one of the best geosciences research The Permian extinction is linked to how lifeforms survived during original land breather. trap radioactive elements inside of programs in the world according to two global rankings that came out in climate change caused by prolonged the extinctions, which could help The paper was published June 28, them when they form, which can help s p r i n g 2017. volcanic eruptions in Russia’s Siberian scientists understand how modern 2017, in the journal PLOS ONE. The scientists more accurately determine The Nature Index of scientific productivity ranked UT No. 4 globally among Traps. The eruptions covered an ocean life evolved and how it study focuses on a species of millipede the age of rock or sediment where they academic institutions for Earth and environmental sciences. The Center for area larger than Alaska with lava might respond to climate change in called Pneumodesmus newmani, which are found. World University Rankings, the largest academic ranking of global universities, and released massive amounts of the future. was thought to have been breathing air Suarez was introduced to the ranked UT No. 3 globally for geology. Both rankings are based on publication of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, on solid ground during the late Silurian geosciences in high school through peer-reviewed research in top-tier journals. which had dire consequences for life period some 428 million years ago. All the Jackson School’s GeoFORCE Texas In the most recent ranking of graduate education programs from U.S. News across the planet. other animal fossils discovered before outreach program. The handful of & World Report, UT ranked No. 5 for geology. The combination of rankings The first study, which was published this time have been from animals that zircons she found that are younger underscores the productivity and excellence of UT’s Jackson School of in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology lived and breathed under water. than 428 million years old definitely Geosciences, which is the largest geosciences program in the country with in November 2016, found that fossils The millipede fossil was discovered show that the Pneumodesmus newmani nearly 600 undergraduate and graduate students. show that some species thought to have in 2004 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, specimen was not the first organism on “It’s rare to find a school that is the largest in a discipline and also operates died out during the Permian extinction and dated by testing plant spores in Earth to breathe air while on land. at an elite level in both education and research,” said UT President Gregory L. had actually survived the event, and sediment found in the general area, “This wasn’t it,” Catlos said. “We have Fenves. “These rankings are a reminder of the global distinction and impact of others originated tens of millions of a method that contains a significant to keep looking.” geosciences at the University of Texas.” years earlier than previously believed. amount of scientific uncertainty Jackson School Professor Daniel The Jackson School consists of three world-class academic and research units Many of the fossil shells are compared with radiometric dating Stockli was a co-author on the — the Department of Geological Sciences, the Institute for Geophysics and the unusually small, only a few millimeters methods, said Elizabeth Catlos, a study. Funding was provided by the Bureau of Economic Geology. Combined, these institutions offer a depth and in size. But they are so well-preserved study author and associate professor Geological Society of America South breadth of geosciences matched by few universities. They spearhead research that they reveal new details of their in the Jackson School’s Department of Central Section.

vitally important to Texas, the country and the world. body shape and early life stages. GREAT DYING: WILLIAM FOSTER/NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM LONDON. FOSSIL LOSES CLAIM: UT' S DIVISION OF DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. Geological Sciences.

10 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 11 Snow Data Climate, Carbon and Geobiology from Satellites Computer climate models that seasonal timescale is quite important for researchers could compare the model’s Improves Seasonal include data about snow coverage water resource management and people predictions to recorded temperatures. can significantly improve seasonal who are interested in next season’s The model ran predictions in three- temperature predictions. weather,” said Peirong Lin, the lead au- month intervals, with January, Temperature The findings, published in November thor of the study and a graduate student February and March each used as 2016 in Geophysical Research Letters, at the Jackson School of Geosciences. starting months. Predictions could help farmers, water providers, The researchers found that The study’s other co-authors are power companies and others that use incorporating snow data from the Jackson School researcher Jiangfeng seasonal climate predictions — forecasts Northern Hemisphere collected by Wei, Ph.D. student Kai Zhang, and of conditions months in the future — NASA satellites improved regional Yongfei Zhang, a former Jackson to make decisions. Snow influences temperature predictions by 5 to 25 School Ph.D. student who is now the amount of heat that is absorbed by percent. These findings are the first to a postdoctoral researcher at the

THE HIMALAYAN the ground and the amount of water go beyond general associations and University of Washington. MOUNTAINS BORDER THE available for evaporation into the break down how much snow can impact The research was funded by a grant TIBETAN PLATEAU, THE atmosphere, which plays an important the temperature of a region months into from the National Natural Science REGION THE RESEARCHERS INVESTIGATED. role in influencing regional climate. the future. Foundation of China and the Jackson “We’re interested in providing more The study examined seasonal data School of Geosciences. accurate climate forecasts because the from 2003 through 2009, so the

Natural Methane Linked to Groundwater Drawing from a Primordial in Parker and Hood Counties Reservoir Deep in the Earth

Surface & Hydrologic Processes Solid Earth and Tectonic Processes

Scientists from the Jackson School of most productive natural gas fields in mile area that also includes wells with The Earth’s mantle — the layer original paper — Thorsten Becker of Geosciences have found that high levels the United States with about 20,000 low levels of methane. between the crust and the outer core the Jackson School of Geosciences of methane in well water from two wells. As production has boomed, Researchers used carbon isotope — is home to a primordial soup even and Jasper Konter of the University counties near Fort Worth are probably questions have been raised about analysis to determine that the methane older than the moon. Among the of Hawaii — to show that only the from shallow natural gas deposits, not the connection between hydraulic was thermogenic, which ruled out main ingredients is helium-3 (He-3), hottest hotspots with the slowest natural gas leaks caused by hydraulic fracturing and potentially dangerous biogenic sources but didn’t pinpoint a vestige of the Big Bang and nuclear wave velocity draw from the fracturing operations in the underlying levels of methane in some water wells, whether the gas came from the deeper fusion reactions in stars. And the primitive reservoir formed early in Barnett Shale. most notably wells in the Silverado Barnett or a shallower reservoir in the mantle is its only terrestrial source. the planet’s history. Their findings The research, published in the journal neighborhood in Parker County. study area called the Strawn Group. Scientists studying volcanic appeared in February 2017 in the Groundwater in March 2017, builds on The researchers analyzed Additional analysis of the samples’ hotspots have strong evidence of journal Nature. previous studies on well water quality in samples from more than 450 wells noble gases conducted by members this, finding high helium-3 relative For their study, the researchers the Barnett Shale, and uses chemical and across 12 counties in the western of the same research team and led by to helium-4 in some plumes, the used the latest seismic models of geographic evidence to tie the elevated Barnett Shale. About 85 percent University of Michigan researchers upwellings from the Earth’s deep the Earth’s velocity structure and methane level in certain water wells to showed very low methane levels linked the methane to the natural gas DISTRIBUTION OF DISSOLVED METHANE mantle. Primordial reservoirs in 35 years of helium data. When they ACROSS THE BARNETT SHALE PLAY. EACH methane in natural shallow deposits. in the groundwater of less than deposits of the Strawn. The results were SMALL RED DOT REPRESENTS A BARNETT the deep Earth, sampled by a small compared oceanic hotspots with The research was led by J.P. Nicot, a 0.1 milligrams of methane per liter complemented by another of the team’s SHALE GAS WELL. THE OTHER COLORED number of volcanic hotspots globally, high levels of He-3/4 to seismic wave DOTS REPRESENT GROUNDWATER senior research scientist at the Bureau of water. However, a cluster of 11 studies in 2015 that found nitrogen SAMPLE LOCATIONS. THE BLACK SQUARE have this ancient He-3/4 signature. velocities, they found that these of Economic Geology. Collaborators wells in the vicinity of the Silverado isotopes associated with the Strawn. SURROUNDS A HIGH-METHANE AREA WHERE Inspired by a 2012 paper that represent the hottest hotspots, include Toti Larson, a researcher from neighborhood had methane levels “Combining alkane, noble gas and RESEARCHERS CONDUCTED IN-DEPTH proposed a correlation between with seismic waves that move ANALYSIS OF GROUNDWATER SAMPLES. the Jackson School’s Department of above 10 milligrams per liter of water, nitrogen compositions, and isotope such hotspots and the velocity of more slowly than they do in cooler Geological Sciences, and scientists from a level that can trigger venting of well ratios allowed us to distinguish natural seismic waves moving through the areas. They also analyzed hotspot the University of Michigan. water systems to ensure the flammable gas sourced from the deep Barnett Earth’s interior, UC Santa Barbara buoyancy flux, which can be used to The Barnett Shale, located in the Fort gas does not become hazardous. These Shale from the shallow Strawn Group,” geochemist Matthew Jackson measure how much melt a particular

Worth region, is one of the largest and 11 wells are found in a roughly 6-by-8- Larson said. NICOT/UT. J.P. METHANE: NASA. DATA: SNOW teamed with the authors of the hotspot produces.

12 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 13 Water in the Earth’s Crust

Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes

ABOVE: A RECONSTRUCTION OF QUETZALCOATLUS IN THE TEXAS MEMORIAL MUSEUM. A geothermometer may sound like a mercury- BELOW: A GROUP OF RESEARCHERS WHO WERE ALSO FRIENDS OF WANN LANGSTON laden probe you stick in a rock, but in reality it’s HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE PTEROSAUR FOR YEARS. a feature of the rock itself: a mineral signature scientists use to understand the cooling history of the rock in question. Getting to Know Postdoctoral fellow Nick Dygert applied a new geothermometry analysis technique to rock that formed in the Earth’s mantle and made a the Texas Pterosaur discovery that helps explain the crust formation process: water probably penetrates deep into the Climate, Carbon & Geobiology crust and upper mantle at mid-ocean spreading zones, the places where new crust is made. The The 35-foot wingspan of Quetzalcoatlus — the largest known flying animal finding adds evidence to one side of a long- to ever exist — has made it the subject of documentaries and museum standing debate on how magma from the Earth’s exhibits. However, very little has been published based on data from mantle cools to form the lower layers of crust. the actual bones of the pterosaur, which were discovered in Big Bend The research was published in May 2017 in National Park by UT geology graduate student Douglas Lawson in 1971. the print edition of Earth and Planetary Science A group of researchers plans to change that by publishing a Letters. Collaborators include Peter Kelemen monograph giving a comprehensive overview of the ancient reptile’s of Columbia University and Yan Liang of Glacier Shape Influences Susceptibility anatomy and physiology. The group consists of Brian Andres, a Brown University. paleontologist and UT geosciences alumnus (B.S. 2000); John Conway, To learn more about the conditions under an artist specializing in prehistoric animals; James Cunningham, a which magma turns into crustal rock, Dygert to Thinning civil engineer; Tom Lehman, a paleontologist and professor at Texas and his collaborators examined rock samples Surface & Hydrologic Processes THE TERMINUS OF KANGERLUGSSUUP SERMERSSUA, Tech University; and Kevin Padian, a paleontologist and professor of that were part of the Earth’s mantle 100 million A GLACIER IN GREENLAND integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. years ago, but are now part of a canyon in Oman. Each researcher got to know the pterosaur through a connection with “One can effectively walk down 20 Glaciers around the world come in all shapes and sizes. to thinning: Rink Isbrae, Umiamako Isbrae, Jakobshavn Isbrae the late Wann Langston, a professor at the UT Department of Geological kilometers in the Earth’s interior,” said Kelemen. Research led by the University of Texas Institute for and Sermeq Silardleq. Sciences. The group sees the monograph as completing work that “This allows scientists to access rocks that Geophysics (UTIG) indicates that this fact should be kept in Umiamako Isbrae, Sermeq Silardleq and Jakobshavn are Langston wasn’t able to finish before his death in 2013. formed far below the seafloor which are not mind when predicting how much mass a glacier stands to lose. already losing mass, with Jakobshavn being responsible for “Everybody knows about [Quetzalcoatlus] but very few people have available for study.” Using a newly developed method, researchers have more than 81 percent of West Greenland’s total mass loss actually seen it, and we’re the only ones except Wann who have worked The team turned to geothermometers to calcu- identified glaciers in West Greenland that are most susceptible during the past 30 years. on it,” Padian said. late temperatures and reveal the cooling history to thinning in the coming decades by analyzing how they “Not long ago we didn’t even know how much ice Cunningham added: “Essentially we’re all here because at one point or of the rock, including a new geothermometer are shaped. The research could help predict how much the Greenland was losing. Now we’re getting down to the another, Wann invited us in.” developed by Liang, which records the maximum Greenland Ice Sheet will contribute to future sea-level rise critical details that control its behavior,” said Tom Wagner, Since Langston’s death, the group has been making yearly visits to the temperature a rock attained before it cooled. during the next century, a number that currently ranges from director of NASA’s cryosphere program, which sponsored pterosaur remains — 316 bones from multiple individuals — stored at The temperatures recorded in the rocks show inches to feet. The study was published in Nature Geoscience in the research. the Jackson School Museum of Earth History. They said that they will that the lower crust and uppermost mantle A p r i l 2017. The analysis works by calculating how far inland thinning finish the monograph in 2017 and submit it for publication. cooled and solidified almost instantly, while “There are glaciers that popped up in our study that flew that starts at the terminus of each glacier is likely to extend. If accepted, they expect the manuscript to be published early in 2018. the deeper mantle cooled more gradually. The under the radar until now,” said lead author Denis Felikson, a Glaciers with thinning that reaches far inland are the most In the meantime, you can see a reconstruction of the pterosaur at the temperature change is indicative of water graduate research assistant at UTIG and a Ph.D. student in the susceptible to ice mass loss. Texas Memorial Museum on the UT Austin campus. circulating through the crust and uppermost Cockrell School of Engineering’s Department of Aerospace The research revealed that most glaciers are susceptible to mantle beneath mid-ocean spreading centers, Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. thinning between 10 and 30 miles inland. For Jakobshavn, and the heat from deeper portions of the mantle The Greenland Ice Sheet is the second-largest ice sheet on however, the risk of thinning reaches over 150 miles inland being dissipated through contact with the Earth and has been losing mass for decades, a trend scientists — almost one-third of the way across the Greenland Ice Sheet. cooler upper rocks. have linked to a warming climate. However, the mass change Ginny Catania, an associate professor in the Department of The research was supported by the Jackson experienced by individual coastal glaciers is highly variable, which Geological Sciences and research associate at UTIG, said the School of Geosciences, the National Science makes predicting the impact on future sea-level rise difficult. group has plans to apply the shape analysis technique to other Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and an Of the 16 glaciers researchers investigated in West glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland.

International Continental Drilling Program grant. PTEROSAUR: JEFF STVAN. GROUP JACKSON SHOT: SCHOOL. BARTHOLOMAUS. TIM GLACIER: Greenland, the study found four that are the most susceptible

14 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 15 UTIG SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST FRED TAYLOR IN THE MANGROVE SWAMPS IN THE FEDERAL STATES OF MICRONESIA

Micronesia Coral Cores Record Sea Level

Climate, Carbon & Geobiology

For the foreseeable future, rising sea This kind of data could help address The researchers hope to receive level is, and will be, an issue facing uncertainties in the past sea level record. additional funding so they can obtain coastal regions, including Middle Pacific In summer 2016, Taylor joined more samples and ultimately show islands. A seed grant from the Jackson forces with co-investigators Andrew a record of time versus elevation of School of Geosciences is supporting Kemp of Tufts University and Simon sea level over the course of the past research into past sea level changes, Engelhart of the University of few thousand years. Having visited work that could provide insight for Rhode Island to conduct preliminary the islands for many years, Taylor what the future has in store. surface sampling on the islands of understands the pressing nature of the Fred Taylor, senior research scientist Phonpei and Chuuck. They sampled issue of sea level rise for the locals. with the University of Texas Institute sediment cores from mangrove “All pacific island nations, including the for Geophysics (UTIG), and Jud Partin, swamps, searching for foraminifera, a FSM, are very concerned about sea level rise a UTIG research associate, are leading microorganism very sensitive to sea and climate change,” Taylor said. “We want the research, which involves conducting level. In addition, they sampled two to collaborate with the local authorities and fieldwork in the Federated States of dead coral microatolls to find out what have been welcomed and accepted by the Micronesia (FSM) to determine if high- age ranges could be investigated in the state governments, fisheries departments precision paleosea level records exist. region using dead corals. and non-governmental organizations.” Exploring Plate Boundaries ABOVE: PH.D. STUDENTS BROOKLYN GOSE (LEFT) AND KELLY OLSEN ON THE CEVICHE Marine Geosciences CRUISE. LEFT: UTIG SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST NATHAN BANGS.

Bureau Projects Activity in Bakken Shale Nathan Bangs, a “It is poorly understood why some the source regions of the 2015 Illapel Energy Geosciences senior research subduction zones slip quickly and and 2010 Maule earthquakes and the scientist at the produce great earthquakes and large northern half of the rupture zone of University of tsunamis, while others slip slowly the great 1960 Valdivia earthquake. The Bureau of Economic Geology oil prices remaining near $40 per results will be published in industry Texas Institute or slip without generating notable Ph.D. students Brooklyn Gose and conducted a comprehensive study of the barrel would likely lead to declining journals in the coming months. for Geophysics earthquakes at all," Bangs said. “Seismic Kelly Olsen, UTIG postdoctoral Bakken unconventional shale resource production from the Bakken and (UTIG), has been surveys like the ones we are acquiring researcher Shuoshuo Han and UTIG in North Dakota and Montana and Three Forks formations, resulting in funded by the on the Langseth will help us see the Research Associate Adrien Arnulf also found that it will remain a substantial about 14,000 future drilled wells and National Science Foundation to lead structure of these subduction zones helped at sea during CEVICHE. contributor to U.S. oil production for estimated ultimate recovery of about three international seismic surveying down 10–20 kilometers below the Bangs is also leading a cruise in several decades through a range of 5.4 billion barrels of oil. However, if cruises on the Research Vessel seafloor to assess the conditions and October and November 2017 and projected oil prices. WTI oil prices were to recover to $100 Langseth to study plate boundaries and processes that control how these plates another in January and February The study forecasts a wide variation per barrel, it could lead to 60,000 wells subduction zones off the coast of Chile interact. These observations are critical 2018 off the eastern coast of New of production outlooks from the added, capturing 10.5 billion barrels of and New Zealand. for understanding all subduction zones, Zealand’s North Island that will study Bakken and the Three Forks oil, with production increasing to 1.5 Subduction zones are a type of fault including those that will impact the U.S. the Hikurangi subduction zone to formations depending primarily on million barrels per day. that cause the largest and most powerful such as Cascadia and the Aleutians.” determine controls on subduction potential future oil prices. The study The study was funded by the Alfred earthquakes and tsunamis in the world, The first cruise took place in zone earthquakes generally and risks does not predict oil prices but looks at P. Sloan Foundation. The initial such as Sumatra 2004, Chile 2010 and January and February 2017. The to New Zealand specifically. The scenarios reflecting the economics of results were presented in a series of Japan 2011. The Hikurangi subduction Crustal Experiment from Valdivia Hikurangi subduction zone is a plate the resource development. presentations at the Unconventional zone, for instance, potentially poses the to Illapel to Characterize Huge boundary where the Pacific tectonic A CHART SHOWING PRODUCTION For instance, according to the study, Resource Technology Conference in SCENARIOS IN THE BAKKEN BASED ON largest earthquake and tsunami hazards Earthquakes (CEVICHE) expedition plate dives underneath the Australian

future West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Austin, Texas, on July 25, 2017. Final POTENTIAL OIL PRICES MICRONESIA: EARTHQUAKE FRED TAYLOR. MONITORS: BEG. BAKKEN: BEG. PLATE BOUNDARIES: NATHAN BANGS. in New Zealand. conducted a seismic exploration of tectonic plate.

16 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 17 Earthquake Triggers “Slow-Motion” Quakes in New Zealand

Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes

Slow slip events, a type of slow motion earthquake that occurs over days to weeks, are thought to be capable of triggering large, potentially damaging earthquakes. In a study led by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), scientists have Jackson School Researchers documented the first clear-cut instance of the reverse — a massive earthquake immediately triggering a series of large Converge on Harvey Destruction ABOVE: A FLOODED NEIGHBORHOOD IN slow slip events, with some of the slow SOUTHEAST TEXAS. BELOW: HURRICANE Rapid Response Program HARVEY APPROACHES THE TEXAS COAST. slip events occurring as far away as 300 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter. The study of new linkages between Shortly after Hurricane Harvey coast. The LIDAR data and imagery is and that investigating these locations the two types of seismic activity, devastated Texas communities in being used to assess storm impacts on will provide valuable insights into the published in Nature Geoscience on Sept. August 2017, Jackson School of the beach and dune system along the impact of storm surges on barrier and 11, 2017, may help promote better Geosciences researchers began drawing Texas Gulf shoreline, identify debris estuarine systems. understanding of earthquake hazards up plans to determine how Harvey and infrastructure damage in central Jackson School researchers and posed by subduction zones — areas impacted the Texas coast and bay Texas bays, and establish a baseline for students have previously surveyed where a tectonic plate subducts beneath system. The projects are part of the monitoring beach and dune recovery these areas during their Marine Geology an adjacent tectonic plate. These types school’s Rapid Response program, in the months and years to come. These & Geosciences field camps in 2009 and of faults are responsible for some of the which supports research in areas surveys are part of the General Land 2012, which is providing important world’s most powerful earthquakes. recently affected by natural disasters. Office's comprehensive response to the baseline data to compare with the post- “This is probably the clearest example “As geoscientists, it is critical that we ongoing effects of Hurricane Harvey. Harvey findings. worldwide of long distance, large- use our expertise to help find ways to At the time the Newsletterwent to Other Jackson School Rapid Response scale slow slip triggering,” said lead mitigate the effects of such catastrophic print, researchers at the University of projects were being discussed when the author Laura Wallace, a UTIG research weather events, particularly right here Texas Institute for Geophysics were Newsletter went to press. scientist. She also holds a joint position at home in Texas,” said Jackson School resurveying the Lydia at GNS Science, a New Zealand research Dean Sharon Mosher. “This research Ann Channel and organization that studies natural will investigate the impacts of abrupt, Aransas Pass with hazards and resources. catastrophic geoscience processes on marine geophysical Co-authors include other GNS scien- coastlines. Most importantly, this instrumentation, and tists, as well as scientists from Georgia research will help determine the best collecting sediment Tech and the University of Missouri. hundreds of miles away beneath the ways to deal with many coastal issues in samples. Researchers In November 2016, the second North Island. the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and believe that these largest quake ever recorded in New The researchers have also found that how we might better prepare for such locations have been Zealand — the 7.8 magnitude Kaikōura the slow slip events triggered by the events in the future.” subjected to substantial quake — hit the country’s South Island. Kaikōura quake were the catalyst for CLOCKWISE: 1. A MAP OF NEW ZEALAND. THE STAR REPRESENTS THE KAIKOURA In the days following the storm, and measurable A GPS network operated by GeoNet, other quakes offshore the North Island’s EARTHQUAKE. THE RED AREA REPRESENTS researchers at the Bureau of Economic erosion and sediment a partnership between GNS Science east coast, including a magnitude A SLOW SLIP EVENTS AREA. 2. A PORTION OF THE NEW ZEALAND COAST UPLIFTED BY THE Geology began an airborne LIDAR and transport by the storm and the New Zealand Earthquake 6.0 just offshore from the town of KAIKOURA EARTHQUAKE. 3. UTIG RESEARCH imagery survey of parts of the Texas surge and its ebb, FLOODED NEIGHBORHOOD: NATIONAL DANIEL GUARD/STAFF SGT. J. MARTINEZ. HURRICANE: NOAA/CIRA/RAMMB. SLIP SLOW MAP: JACKSON SCHOOL. WALLACE: LIZ BRENNER. UPLIFTED GNS SCIENCE. COAST: Commission, detected slow slip events Porangahau on Nov. 22, 2016. SCIENTIST LAURA WALLACE.

18 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 19 Study Quantifies Potential for Water Reuse in Permian Basin Oil Production

Energy Geosciences

Hydraulic fracturing has once again made the Permian Basin one of the richest oil fields in the world. But the improved reserves come with some serious water management issues. Research led by the Bureau of Economic Geology highlights key differences in water use between conventional drill sites and sites that use hydraulic fracturing. The study, published in Environmental Science & Technology in September 2017, also found that recycling the water produced at hydraulic fracturing sites could help reduce potential problems associated with the technology. These include the need for large upfront water use and potentially induced seismicity or earthquakes triggered by injecting the water produced during operations back into the ground. “In the Permian we have a good opportunity for reusing or recycling produced water for hydraulic fracturing,” said lead author Bridget Scanlon, a senior research scientist at the bureau and director of the bureau’s Sustainable Water Resources Program. Scanlon co-authored the study with bureau researchers Robert Reedy, Frank Male and Mark Walsh. Since the 1920s, the Permian Basin has been a very active area for conventional Installation of Earthquake oil production, peaking in the 1970s and accounting for almost 20 percent of U.S. oil LEFT TO RIGHT: BUREAU RESEARCH ASSOCIATE BISSETT YOUNG, PARKER production. Hydraulic fracturing technology has revived production in the Permian Monitors Complete COUNTY COMMISSIONER LARRY WALDEN, by allowing companies to tap into immense oil reserves held in less permeable AND BUREAU RESEARCH SCIENTIST unconventional shale formations. Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes ASSOCIATE TANIA MURKHERJEE. The study analyzed 10 years of water data from 2005 to 2015. Up front, unconventional wells use much more water than conventional wells. But unconventional wells produce much less water than conventional wells. The Bureau of Economic Geology seismometers, many of which have Mounting, yet still circumstantial, For conventional operations, the produced water is disposed of by injecting it into installed the final permanent TexNet already been installed. evidence points to a link between deep depleted conventional reservoirs. Unconventional wells generate only about a tenth of seismic station in August 2017, With these additional stations now disposal of fluids and earthquakes, but the water produced by conventional wells, but this produced water cannot be injected completing the system of 22 permanent operating, TexNet has been recording comprehensive data and necessary into the shales because of the rock’s low permeability. sensors that will monitor earthquakes dozens of seismic events a month, most of interpretations are ongoing. The lack The study points out that instead of injecting the produced water into these around the state and provide scientists them very small. Monitoring is only part of data, coupled with the complexity formations, operators could potentially reuse the water to hydraulically fracture the the seismicity data to help determine of TexNet’s mandate. In parallel with the of the science, makes definitive, causal next set of wells. what’s behind a recent increase in Center for Integrated Seismicity Research answers difficult at the current time. seismic activity. (CISR), a multidisciplinary research team “TexNet will help collect the hard TexNet and its related research, led by led by bureau Research Scientist Peter scientific data, and conduct scientific the bureau, were authorized by Texas Hennings and Professor Ellen Rathje in and engineering analyses required to Gov. Greg Abbott and the legislature in the Department of Civil, Environmental understand an issue that affects many June 2015 with $4.47 million in state and Architectural Engineering, TexNet is stakeholders — industry, government, funding. Since then, Research Scientist working to conduct fundamental research academia and the public,” said bureau Alexandros Savvaidis and his crew to better understand natural and induced Director and State Geologist Scott W. have been traveling the state surveying earthquakes in Texas. Tinker. “Energy production is important potential sites and, with the help of At issue is how an extremely small to the citizens of Texas and the nation, former landman and bureau Director subset of wells used to dispose of but so is safe disposal and management of External Affairs Mark Blount, wastewater, co-produced with oil of fluids. I am proud of our bureau negotiating leases for the locations of and gas, could be triggering faults team for working thoughtfully and the permanent seismic sensing stations. and causing earthquakes, when the objectively with all stakeholders in this LEFT: A MAP SHOWING THE RANGE OF THE The system also includes 36 portable vast majority of disposal wells do not. difficult space.” PERMIAN BASIN AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF OIL WELLS IN THE REGION. ABOVE: A HYDRAULIC FRACTURING WELL SITE IN THE view texnet interactive seismic data at www.beg.utexas.edu/texnet

PERMIAN BASIN. MAP: BRIDGET SCANLON. WELL SITE: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. INSTALLATION OF MONITORS: JACKSON SCHOOL.

20 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 21 NEWSMAKERS

Experts from the Jackson School were featured in news outlets, documentaries and even a science show for kids. In addition, research findings — from what killed Lucy, to ice reservoirs on Mars, to exceptional fossil finds — made news across the world.

CLOCKWISE: 1.UTIG’S JUD PARTIN WAS FEATURED IN A SCIENCE PROGRAM ABOUT GLOBAL CATASTROPHES. 2. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE GOT IN THE ACT WHEN THE JACKSON SCHOOL HELPED FIGURE OUT HOW LUCY DIED. 3. BEG’S SUSAN HOVORKA DISCUSSES HOW TO STORE CARBON UNDER GROUND ON PBS NEWSHOUR.

IN THE NEWS

“Having returned samples from “This is a vote of confidence “It has taken some time, but “We wanted to try to go into “These uncertainties limit our “What interested us was how a known context/location on that the energy reform is to our thinking it is better this business of ‘attribution,’ in ability to accurately predict long it took life to recover Mars would open up a huge moving forward and for the to do this slower and more which people try to parse out the future of the ice sheet. We afterward. Because not only suite of analysis techniques that geological potential of the methodically and the state will the temperature differences are in for a lot of change in was this the worst mass- the rocks could be subjected to.” Mexican Gulf deep waters. greatly benefit, rather than us that are caused because of Greenland in the future. The extinction event, but recovery Analyzing the rocks in an Earth- Everybody paid a premium and rushing in and picking sites that natural variability or man-made question remains — how took millions of years.”

based laboratory “will allow that premium indicates the are not very good. We want to anthropogenic variability.” quickly will it happen?” William Foster Postdoctoral Fellow, us to understand the geologic potential of the blocks.” get the sensors in the ground, Kaustubh Thirumalai Ginny Catania Department of Geological Sciences history of the samples in a way but in the right way.” Postdoctoral Fellow, Associate Professor & Research Associate, Jorge Piñon The Atlantic, March 15, 2017 University of Texas Institute Department of Geological Sciences and that we couldn’t accomplish in Director, Michael Young for Geophysics University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Jackson School Latin American and situ on Mars.” Associate Director, Washington Post, June 6, 2017 Live Science, Dec. 7, 2016 Caribbean Energy Program Bureau of Economic Geology New York Times, Dec. 5, 2016 Timothy Goudge Fort Worth Star Telegram, March 4, 2017 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Geological Sciences Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 14, 2017 PHOTOS: HISTORY CHANNEL, NIGHT SATURDAY LIVE, PBS NEWS HOUR.

Read Jackson School news: jsg.utexas.edu/news UTJSG @TXGEOSCIENCES JSG UT AUSTIN @TXGEOSCIENCES

22 | Jackson School of Geosciences SCIENTIST PROFILE reputation for ground truthing the water dynamics of trees “It’s a delicate dance a tree is trying to pull off,” Matheny to inform conservation efforts. said. “To take in enough carbon from the atmosphere to avoid Matheny expanded her research focus during a postdoctoral starving to death, but not release too much water to avoid position at her alma mater last summer to incorporate detailed drying out.” tree hydrology data into computer models of the cycling She developed probe-like sensors that can be inserted into of water and bioactive elements between the earth and the tree trunks to capture information on water storage and flow atmosphere. Jackson School Professor Jack Sharp noted that through them. These sensors measure water characteristics in researchers have been “pretty ignorant” about how vegetative straw-like spaces of the xylem inside tree trunks and branches. hydrological processes impact land surface models because By combining this data with water-isotope data taken from plants have been harder to evaluate than satellite-accessible core samples of tree xylem, she extrapolates how deeply a tree’s attributes like cloud moisture. roots extend. “Understanding vegetative water use is a missing key to Matheny has built hundreds of probes over the years that the local and global modeling puzzle,” he said. “Matheny’s have become increasingly sensitive, while still withstanding developed some effective, relatively attacks to their wiring from hungry forest low-cost ways of measuring water flow dwellers. The work resulted in being lead and storage in trees that could markedly author on a November 2016 article in enhance modeling efforts.” “Understanding Ecohydrology that demonstrated that red For her part, Matheny looks forward vegetative water oaks in Michigan outperform red maples in to working on hydrology projects with their hydraulic strategy. Jackson School faculty. She plans to work use is a missing The red oaks were found to sink their on water research with Daniella Rempe, roots into deeper water pockets. The also an assistant professor of hydrologic key to the local deeper roots allowed the oaks to access and water sciences; on climate modeling and global more water to store in woody material. with professors Zong-Liang Yang and Bob As a result, the oaks could continue Dickinson; and on soil moisture analyses modeling puzzle.” transpiring during dry spells that have with Todd Caldwell and Michael Young of become increasingly common. Meanwhile, -Jack Sharp the Bureau of Economic Geology’s Texas equally prevalent red maples turned out Soil Observation Network. to have shorter roots and smaller water Matheny will “go local” by expanding her reserves. They closed their stomata during ASHLEY MATHENY work to include studying native Texas trees. Yet she intends a drought, eschewing the ability to synthesize nutrients and to keep in mind the broader need for enhancing land surface grow in exchange. By clarifying their reduced fitness during models’ representation of vegetation. Current models often water stress, the work could help inform forest management incorporate measurements of moisture and other features plans and improve modeling of how forests might shift arboreal for dozens of soil and atmospheric layers, while plants might species under future climate scenarios. occupy a single sliver of information between those data stacks. Not all of Matheny’s projects have been in temperate regions Moreover, modelers often represent all trees in one category as such as Michigan. As a master’s student at Ohio State, she spent Rodent-proofing moisture sensors and plowing through dense if they impact resource cycling equally. weeks on a Panamanian island walking straight transects “If we could make it so that temperate deciduous forests are through a forest and dodging bullet ants, poisonous snakes and forest undergrowth gives Ashley Matheny a glimpse into the not represented as one big leaf, but as the individual hydraulic more. The work to catalog a vine’s presence in the tree canopy classes that the trees actually represent, we could reduce the also required carrying LIDAR equipment. survival dance of trees. by Barbra A. Rodriguez uncertainty in our models,” Matheny said. “Hiking in 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity while The Michigan tree study highlights why lumping tree species carrying 50 pounds was not fun,” she admitted. fosters such uncertainty by showing that different species Knowing the value of field work, though, her first priority in If not for the pliable nature of water, Ashley Matheny’s career the faculty of the Jackson School of Geosciences Department of have a different way of handling water storage. Traditionally, Texas has been establishing study sites, including of water- might have followed a different course. Back in 2010, the West Geological Sciences in fall 2017. “When I saw a real hydraulic modelers have measured gaseous exchange at leaf pores stressed mangroves along the Texas Gulf Coast. Matheny may Virginia native was studying water interactions with dams for jump in person, I thought, ‘Huh, maybe hydrology is more (stomata) as a catch-all for understanding plant interactions eventually compare their water use with that of mangroves the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after completing a bachelor’s interesting than I realized and deserves another look.’” with water and gasses. Leaf stomata capture carbon dioxide along an arid coast, such as in Oman, to help clarify hydraulic degree in civil engineering. One summer morning, she Luckily, Matheny’s not one to approach scientific needed for photosynthesis and growth. They also release water functions of Lone Star mangroves. witnessed a phenomena on the Ohio River that would forever disciplines lightly. Growing up in a small town along the through transpiration, the conversion of ultraviolet radiation She noted that discussing the field experiences that sustain change the way she viewed hydrology. Ohio River water skiing, canoeing and camping meant her from sunlight into water vapor. That process helps trees shed her spirit, and the multidisciplinary aspects of her research, Matheny saw a front of rapidly moving water develop where passion for nature runs deep. As an undergraduate at The heat and water. help her bring research alive while teaching. there were no rocks or objects to raise the water height. The Ohio State University, she immersed herself in measuring To enhance vegetative details, Matheny has spent eight years “It’s exciting to continually learn new things,” said Matheny, water rushed downstream to slam into slower water, and piled water use by trees in a section of Michigan forest under studying how native tree species adjust their water content in who has presented at 15 scientific meetings since she was an up chaotically behind it. environmental stress. Combining her passions, the project their leaves, woody material and roots in response to changing undergraduate. “My tree research extends into engineering, “I had heard about hydraulic jumps in hydrology class, but turned into her master’s and doctoral theses (and her first rainfall and other stressors. Without doing so, a plant could hydrology and hydrogeology, but also into chemistry and

it was like some mythical creature,” said Matheny, who joined National Science Foundation grant). She has since built a PHOTO: ASHLEY MATHENY. become dehydrated during a drought. biology, so there are always new possibilities to investigate.”

OPPOSITE PAGE: ASHLEY MATHENY INSTALLS A MOISTURE SENSOR WITHIN A RED 24 | Jackson School of Geosciences MAPLE TREE’S TRUNK AT A RESEARCH SITE IN PELLSTON, MICHIGAN. 2017 Newsletter | 25 SCIENTIST PROFILE rover that plunged 300 meters into Cenote Zacatón. He also is known for developing the first mathematical model of the effects of physical changes that occur on the surfaces of fractured rocks and of how layers of water with different densities can overturn of their own accord in sedimentary systems. As an offshoot of his analyses of natural springs in Central Texas, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, he uncovered the way waterborne contaminants use the sandy material that surrounds underground utility pipes as conduits for transport. JACK SHARP Sharp initially studied geological made while collaborating on research and engineering at the University of Minnesota educational projects, and spearheading or “There are on the advice of that state’s Geological Survey contributing to professional meetings and some people director, a family friend. A sense of duty endeavors. He has given keynote addresses led him to Air Force officer training school in five countries, is a past president of who know instead of accepting Peace Corps or graduate the Geological Society of America, and a exactly what school offers. While stationed in Wichita past president and treasurer for the U.S. Falls, Texas, during the Vietnam War, he chapter of the International Association they’re going to married his wife of 50 years, Carol, and began of Hydrogeologists, among a multitude of contemplating teaching. professional roles. do as a career. The four-year break helped him refocus. He Sharp also helps citizens consider water- But mine … it’s earned a doctorate in hydrogeology from the related challenges. Buried amidst mementos University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, coating his office door is a bumper sticker just been an studying the movement of heat through layers with a quote from a character by author adventure.” of sediment. The work earned Sharp the O.E. Robert Heinlein: “A generation, which ignores Meinzer Award — hydrogeology’s highest history, has no past and no future.” Sharp said -Jack Sharp honor. Other awards have since followed from that hydrogeologists are particularly poised to organizations large and small. In fall 1974, he help explain resource challenges. first began sharing his love of learning on faculty “We deal with the present, try to at the University of Missouri–Columbia and understand the past, and often project into the came to The University of Texas at Austin future with almost any water issue you look in 1982. Over 100 graduate students and at,” he said. postdoctorates have benefited from his guidance. His focus on the impact of urbanization Wendy Robertson, an assistant professor intensified after moving to Austin to join the at Central Michigan University, completed geology faculty in 1982. Among the dozens of Inquisitive researcher. Giving educator. Dedicated citizen. John M. her Ph.D. with Sharp at the Jackson School talks he has provided pro bono, for have been of Geosciences in 2014, and recalls his several for West Texas residents wondering (Jack) Sharp Jr. is known as a hydrogeologist who approaches his inspirational energy. She can still imitate his how Balmorhea Springs could be affected by professional life at full throttle. As a testament to his active 43 years voice from when he awakened field camps at possible hydraulic fracturing for oil. dawn with a song of reveille. His unguarded “It’s important to put out the current science of professordom, the four-foot-wide set of Longhorns above his support for students’ projects she remembers as best as we understand it [to foster wise especially, referring to it as being “like air decision making],” Sharp noted. “Sometimes office desk is dwarfed by a sea of plaques around it — a reflection underneath your wings.” For instance, he it’s not appreciated, but it’s something every supported Robertson’s development of a side scientist should do.” of a commitment to serving his profession that takes five pages to project that has led her to consult on water As for retirement, he still has presenta- resources in Haiti and Africa. tions and manuscripts such as a dense memoir recap on his CV. by Barbra A. Rodriguez “His cheerleading really did shape me as a about the Edwards Aquifer to help develop, scientist because it allowed me to step out on and classes to teach. When he accepts full the edge and think about what’s practical,” she retirement and shorter office hours next sum- Sharp has also built a reputation during 35 years on campus as “There are some people who know exactly what they’re going to said. “I definitely credit the independence he mer, a hydrogeology glossary beckons, and a OPPOSITE PAGE: SHARP a scientist whose wide-ranging interests have extended from do as a career,” Sharp noted. “But mine … it’s just been an adventure.” instilled with my current success.” monthly newsletter must be kept alive. AT HALLETT COVE IN AUSTRALIA. ABOVE: SHARP basic research on groundwater recharge to understanding the To analyze a Mexican sinkhole that is the Earth’s third- Robertson also notes benefiting from “I’ll continue to learn — and hopefully IN BIG BEND WITH FORMER

formation of deep sinkholes. deepest, he helped obtain funding from NASA to build a PHOTOS: JACK SHARP. the community of colleagues Sharp has contribute — to science,” Sharp said. STUDENT FU LI .

26 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 27 SCIENTIST PROFILE of Dr. Bridget Scanlon,” said bureau Director Scott W. Tinker. More recently, however, Scanlon has found her expertise “Bridget is widely considered one of the foremost authorities becoming increasingly relevant to oil and gas, given how on water resources. She is passionate about her work and what central water is to the process of hydraulic fracturing. it means to the conservation and wise utilization of water “There is a lot of concern over the large amounts of water sources in Texas, nationally and globally. I’m honored to call needed in order to hydraulically fracture wells in the first Bridget a colleague and friend.” place,” she said. “Given its high premium in a state like Texas, much attention is focused on where water can be WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE sourced to service major plays where hydraulic fracturing is While Scanlon is widely versed in the elements that impact being conducted.” water usage, storage and conservation, she is particularly active Another challenge is managing the water produced as a in certain research areas: studies of groundwater recharge; the byproduct of hydraulic fracturing along with oil and gas. This impact of climate extremes and land-use changes on hydrologic “produced” water needs to be disposed of in some way, and processes; water use and availability related to energy; and use there is often a lot of it. of underground aquifers as water storage facilities. “The U.S. produces about 10 barrels of water for each barrel Born in County Kerry, Ireland, Scanlon first studied geology of oil,” she stated. at Trinity College in Dublin and also worked as a field assistant Between the water used in hydraulic fracturing operations with the Geological Survey of Ireland. This field work formed and the water produced as a result of those operations, water the basis of her 1983 master’s in geology undertaken at the management is a critical issue for industry. However, it is University of Alabama. Its focus on the hydrogeology of karst important to consider water use for the energy sector in a landscapes was a preamble to her chemical and physical work broader context with irrigated agriculture being a major water as a Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky in the karst user in many semiarid regions. central Bluegrass Region. “There is no one size fits all model,” Scanlon said. “Each play After her Ph.D., she spent a year working for the S.S. has its own particular set of variables that must be assessed BRIDGET SCANLON Papadopulos consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and then individually. By studying the details of each play, then putting interviewed for positions in research and teaching in various all those pieces together and taking a step back, we then begin U.S. universities. to understand the broader picture. For me, this approach “That’s how I ended up in Texas,” she said. to research has frequently led to the discovery of workable Scanlon was first offered a position as research associate solutions to the many challenges faced when it comes to water at the bureau in 1987. Her decision to remain for three supply and demand.” decades is due mainly to the independence afforded to active researchers and the avenues such flexibility allows for collaboration across disciplines. “The range of things we do at the bureau cannot be understated,” she said. “From satellite to deep subsurface, we go the whole gamut. “The bureau model has always impressed me,” she stressed. “They really promote collaboration. Every project Bridget Scanlon’s contribution to understanding our most precious is a team effort. This is quite different from working in traditional university departments where professors are resource cannot be overstated. As a world-leading authority on water frequently lone rangers in their respective fields. Fostering a collaborative spirit is so beneficial, particularly from a research, her career has been characterized by a commitment to data research perspective.” as well as innovative approaches that cut across disciplines. by John Holden BEYOND OIL & GAS It is sometimes assumed the bureau is focused solely on oil

and gas research and funded almost exclusively by major OPPOSITE PAGE: SCANLON NEAR THE PONT DU GARD AQUEDUCT During her 30-year career at the Bureau of Economic Geology, honors a scientist can receive. Also in that same year, she private energy producers. This is a misconception, and NEAR THE CITY OF NIME IN FRANCE. RIGHT: SCANLON AT HER Scanlon has published over 100 articles in numerous peer- received the National Ground Water Association’s M. King Scanlon’s tenure at the bureau is a testament to how diverse INDUCTION INTO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING WITH PRESIDENT C.D. MOTE (RIGHT) AND CHAIRMAN GORDON ENGLAND reviewed journals, such as Groundwater, Water Resources Hubbert Award for major science contributions to the the research can be. Research, and Environmental Science & Technology. She has served knowledge of groundwater. Recently, she was appointed to “When I first started here, my focus wasn’t on oil and gas on National Academy of Sciences committees, been involved the Jackson School’s William L. Fisher Endowed Chair in at all, but various environmental issues, including low-level with U.S. Department of Energy scientific endeavors, and has Geological Sciences, a distinction that recognizes research radioactive waste disposal,” she said. “Over the years, the been a member of the NASA GRACE science team, a group scientists, research professors or faculty members for their bureau has worked with the Texas Water Development Board, dedicated to using satellite data to study Earth. excellence in research, teaching and service. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the EPA, and is In 2016, she was elected as a member of the National “The Bureau of Economic Geology is fortunate to have a currently conducting a major study into carbon sequestration

Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional research scientist with the dedication, expertise and vision BUREAUAWARD: OF ECONOMIC AQUIFER: GEOLOGY. BRIDGET SCANLON. with the support of the Department of Energy.”

28 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 29 SCIENTIST PROFILE Northern Mexico, and in the Central Andes of Argentina and as Advanced Structural Geology and Brittle Structure for Chile. He is fluent in multiple dialects of Spanish. His and his graduate students. His devotion to teaching was most evident students’ research in Mexico ranged from regional structure in his yearly participation in GEO 660, an undergraduate of the Sierra Madre Oriental fold-thrust belt and timing field camp course. Marrett excelled at teaching in the field, of thrusting to structural studies of detachment folds and both traditional fold-thrust belt mapping and interpretation structure and stratigraphy within the evaporate decollement. and integration of thrust kinematics and dynamic processes In the Andes, they studied the intracontinental deformation during deformation. and magmatism responses to late Cenozoic South American Mark Helper, field camp director and longtime co-instructor plate motion reorganization. with Marrett, was quick to point out his contributions. Marrett was always more interested in sharing fracture “In 20-plus years of team teaching with dozens of faculty, research with those who could apply it, than rushing to Randy was simply the finest field instructor I’ve worked publish in journals, Laubach said. To that end, in the 1990s, with,” Helper said. “He trained hundreds of undergraduates. he and Marrett and collaborators His field skills are unparalleled RANDY MARRETT in the Department of Petroleum and his creative teaching methods & Geosystems Engineering (PGE) brought something new to our classes founded the Fracture Research and every year. Like the best teachers, Application Consortium (FRAC) — an he has the ability to explain complex academic and industry partnership ideas in simple terms and sketches. dedicated to studying fracture His contributions to our field program questions of interest to both groups. will be sorely missed.” Laubach credits FRAC’s success in During his time at the university, part to Marrett’s skill in explaining Marrett supervised 20 M.S. and seven the science of fracture research to Ph.D. students and published 57 any audience. Marrett, Laubach and papers, which have been cited more Jon Olson, the PGE department than 3,608 times. chair and FRAC collaborator, used Elizabeth McKinnon, a master’s to run a lecture series on fractures student of Marrett’s, said that he in reservoirs for the American helped build confidence in her that all Association of Petroleum Geologists. ideas are worthy of consideration. Marrett consistently received high ABOVE: RANDY MARRET “Randy is good at helping people rankings for his presentations. BELOW: MARRETT IN THE ANDES think for themselves,” McKinnon New research ideas could come said. “If you have 20 ideas and to Marrett in a flash of brilliance. even if only two of them could be Laubach recalls a flight to Mexico plausible, he still wants you to be where he saw Marrett doodling able to come up with those 20 ideas on a napkin. The sketch outlined and expand your mind, and think of a new technique for quantifying all the possibilities. Professor Randy Marrett, a structural geologist, retired this how fractures were arranged in a Marrett was drawn to the field particular area. at an early age. A great lover of the summer after 23 years of research and teaching in the Department “The new technique sprung out of outdoors and fishing, he moved to his his head fully formed,” Laubach said. cabin in Idaho when he retired and is of Geological Sciences. By Monica Kortsha “He is probably the closest thing to a now living off the grid. Far away from genius the Jackson School ever had.” publications and people, McKinnon Marrett was an educator envisions Marrett spending the day Marrett was a world-class educator and researcher whose and understand how fractures behave as the environment extraordinaire. Known widely for going where his ideas lead him, with work primarily focused on rock fractures and how fluid flows changes. Marrett’s most highly cited papers use thorough field his teaching, he earned the ranking geology front and center. through them. It’s a key concept in geology, but a difficult observations, combined with conceptual and mathematical of “Awesome!” from the website Rate “He takes things he’s heard, stories one that often ends up frustrating many who try to take insights on fracture and fault behavior. One of these papers, My Teachers. For many years, he that don’t seem geology-related, and on the challenge, said Bureau of Economic Geology Senior a 1991 publication that is one of the most highly cited papers taught GEO 428 Structural Geology he can always see why geology is the Research Scientist Stephen Laubach, a longtime collaborator published in the Journal of Structural Geology, found that when and GEO 420K Stratigraphic and most important part of the story,” of Marrett’s. it came to brittle faults, most methods were underestimating Field Methods courses, as well she said. “The path to solving any of these basic problems is just the number of fractures present in a given area — a point of fraught with so many basic impediments … it takes a certain particular importance to oil and gas companies interested in stubbornness to stay in the fight,” Laubach said. mapping out paths where hydrocarbons could go. Research on fractures is so challenging in part because it’s While at the Jackson School, Marrett conducted much of

difficult to study fracture systems that exist deep underground, his fieldwork in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains in SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: OPPOSITE PAGE: MARRETT IS IN THE BIG HORN BASIN, NEAR GREYBULL, WYOMING

30 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 31 SCIENTIST PROFILE Davis’ original advisor, who didn’t see a future in studying induced earthquakes at the university, left UT. “I said [to Davis], ‘if you’re working with me you need to work on deep earthquakes and earthquake statistics because there is obviously no future in manmade earthquakes,’” Frohlich recalls. “[Davis’] approach to my advice was he continued to work on induced earthquakes and also worked on deep earthquakes and earthquake statistics. And of course the result was that he drew me into discussions about CLIFF FROHLICH manmade earthquakes.” This led to Frohlich’s “hobby” on Texas-induced earthquakes. With no funding or great interest outside of his own, it was something he studied for years, leading him to become an expert when manmade earthquakes became a hot topic in recent years. When two earthquakes near Dallas occurred in 2008, he collaborated with colleagues at Southern Methodist University (SMU) to study the incidents. They turned out to be first manmade earthquakes of the new era. “I was on the forefront of the renaissance of manmade earthquakes,” Frohlich said. “I’ve often said, ‘an expert is somebody who was publishing on something before the smart people thought it was important.’” Growing up in a family of writers, Frohlich determined that he was the third best writer and that maybe he’d try a different route. When Sputnik went into orbit, he remembers hearing that math and science were the future for careers, so he thought he’d try that. The joke was on him though, as he estimates a large majority of his job is actually writing. “In my career, publishing has been hugely important,” he said. “I think a lot of people publish because they have to because of a grant or otherwise. I’d say that many of my papers, I didn’t “In my career, publishing have to write. My knee jerk reaction as a scientist: if I figure something out, I should write about it.” has been hugely His advice to new researchers is to find problems that are important. I think a lot of important and do the best science that they can. “On one hand, be careful to publish as much as you can, people publish because When Cliff Frohlich joined the University of Texas Institute but two, be careful to work on important problems. Take they have to because the time to do it right,” Frohlich said. “Those are kind of for Geophysics in 1978, he didn’t move to Austin, he moved to opposite — taking the time to do it right and working on a of a grant or otherwise. hard problem means that you publish less, but publishing a I’d say that many of my Galveston, where the institute was originally located. His specialty lot means that you’ve got to get something out, and they are both true.” papers, I didn’t have was on ocean bottom seismography, but from the moment he was While Frohlich has spent most of his time at UTIG studying what interested him, he also served as associate director for the to write. My knee jerk hired, he was told to focus on science. By Jessica Hall past 20 years. UTIG Director Terry Quinn said that he and the reaction as a scientist: if institute as a whole have benefited from having Frohlich at the helm for the past two decades. I figure something out, I “One of the wonderful things about the institute is that from And that’s exactly what he did for the past 40 years — the “Cliff has provided wise counsel and guidance to previous the beginning they basically said, ‘you’re a research scientist, research that interested him. Over the years he has studied directors and me,” Quinn said. “I am especially grateful to Cliff should write about it.” we don’t know what you should be thinking about, but figure the ocean bottom, earthquake statistics, deep earthquakes, for his friendship over the years as well.” – Cliff Frohlich it out. As long as some of it is earth science, do the best science Texas earthquakes and manmade earthquakes. The latter is So what are Frohlich’s plans now that he’s retiring? He’ll that you can,’” Frohlich said. “I’ve had a career where nobody what Frohlich is most known for recently; his phone regularly still be around UTIG as a researcher emeritus, and will be a has ever prevented me from thinking about something I’m rings as soon as an earthquake is felt in Texas. His interest in visiting scientist at SMU. He also plans to spend more time curious about and that’s something special because I’ve done a manmade or induced earthquakes began thanks to a graduate with family and working on some hobbies, like woodworking, OPPOSITE PAGE: FROHLICH IN ANTARCTICA lot of things.” student, Scott Davis, who Frohlich began to work with when PHOTOS: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS INSTITUTE FOR GEOPHYSICS. cycling and writing. ABOVE: BOOK COVER FOR TEXAS EARTHQUAKES

32 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 33 OUTREACH Jackson School Hosts Four North American Workshop on Laser International Science Meetings Ablation (NAWLA) FROM CAVES AND LASERS TO TECTONICS AND TOMOGRAPHY, A who’s who of laser ablation and THE SCHOOL WAS A SITE FOR DIVERSE SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGE. inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry converged on Austin in May 2017 to share knowledge about this powerful analytical technology. The meeting — the North American Workshop on Laser Ablation — was also the second time the group has come to the Jackson School of Geosciences. The three-day workshop was spearheaded by a small group that includes Jackson School Laser Ablation and ICP-MS Lab Manager Nate Miller, who wanted to help create a workshop environment where scientists and instrument vendors could exchange information NAWLA CONFERENCE ATTENDEES ON THE UT CAMPUS about a rapidly changing field. “The best way to learn something is pioneers in the field: Sam Houk of Iowa yet if the Jackson School will be the from an expert, and very few of us get State University and Henry Longerich of permanent home of the event, but said the chance to go visit an expert in a lab Memorial University of Newfoundland. that the group is committed to keeping to learn a technique,” he said. “We’re Jackson School research was presented the meeting going. That’s good news trying create a workshop with shared by professors Richard Kyle and Daniel for Longerich, who said he found the experiences and opportunities where Stockli, postdoctoral fellow Federico workshop much more constructive you can learn.” Galster, and graduate students Stephanie than some larger and better-known The workshop constituted a snapshot Wafforn and Kylie Wright. scientific conferences. of state-of-the-art laser ablation research. The workshop is now being held “It’s a perfect size,” Longerich said of Some 130 scientists and vendors from every other year — on the off-years of the workshop. “That makes this meeting, 12 countries attended the workshop, the long-running European workshop for me, more productive. I can just sit including two internationally known on the same topic. Miller doesn’t know there and soak it all in.”

Karst Record Conference (KR8) Tomography for Scientific Advancement Symposium (ToScA) The Karst Record Conference, a four- term for landscapes made up of rocks Sarah Truebe, Director of day, international conference dedicated that are easily eroded by water, such Community Engaged Learning in For the past 20 years, The University by UTCT and the Jackson School, and to sharing the latest progress in cave- as limestone and dolomite, and form Environmental Sustainability at of Texas at Austin’s High-Resolution managed by the Royal Microscopical based paleoclimate research, convened underground drainage features, like caves Stanford University, enjoyed the mid- X-ray Computed Tomography Facility, Society, the event brought together about at the Jackson School of Geosciences on and sinkholes. With that in mind, the conference trip to Barton Springs — a or UTCT, has been hard at work in the 70 attendees from 31 different academic May 21-24, 2017. karst landscape of the Texas Hill Country trip that included a tour led by a U.S. Jackson School of Geosciences, giving institutions and companies, and four Jay Banner, the director of the was an ideal locale to hold a conference Geological Survey hydrologist and an researchers a nondestructive look inside countries, all united by a common Jackson School’s Environmental Science dedicated in large part to sharing the option to take a dip in the main pool specimens ranging from dinosaur eggs research interest in CT-scanning. Institute, and Kathleen Johnson, a latest research on how stalactites, — but was excited for the next day of to ancient meteorites. Farah Ahmed, the head of imaging professor at the University of California stalagmites and other speleothems are scientific talks back at campus. On June 6–8, 2017, the far-reaching and analysis at the Natural History Irvine, hosted the conference, called used to study ancient climates. “So far, every talk has something research facilitated by UTCT and other Museum London and ToScA founder, KR8 for short. The program included Optional field trips to Inner Space interesting,” she said. CT-scanning facilities was on display suggested the Jackson School as the site three full days of oral and poster Cavern, Natural Bridge Caverns, Barton at the Jackson School of Geosciences of the first North American meeting, presentations, and mid-conference Springs and West Cave gave conference for the first North American meeting of said UTCT research scientist associate workshops. The 115 attendees came attendees the option to see some of the ToScA, the Tomography for Scientific and facility manager Jessie Maisano, who A KR8 ATTENDEE LOOKS FOR from 18 countries and 18 U.S. states. most famous karst features of Central SALAMANDERS DURING A CONFERENCE Advancement Symposium. Hosted co-chaired the meeting with Ahmed. A CT-SCAN OF A KOMODO DRAGON HEAD THAT

Caves form in karst — a geological Texas during their stay. TRIP TO BARTON SPRINGS. SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE WAS CREATED IN THE UTCT FACILITY.

34 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 35 TOMOGRAPHY CONTINUED “She approached us because we’ve The program included lectures on researchers had to rely on military or been doing this for 20 years, and we scanning and analysis techniques, as medical contacts to scan specimens, were the first academic research lab in well as on how the technology was said UTCT Director Richard Ketcham. the United States to provide this kind being applied in different scientific -ar By scanning specimens for all sorts of technology to academic researchers, eas, including geology, materials science, of research ends, the UTCT lab as far as we know,” Maisano said. “The and medical and biological science. has developed a broad expertise, program has been amazingly strong, The UTCT lab got its first CT and developed relationships with especially for a first meeting.” scanner in 1997. Before that, scientists across disciplines.

dispersed and small, and its interaction and collaboration with the numerical modeling community is limited. The National Science Foundation sponsored an international Analog Modeling of Tectonic Processes workshop at the Bureau of Economic Geology in May 2017 to bring the two modeling communities together. Bureau researcher BEG Launches EarthDate Radio Program and workshop co-organizer Tim Dooley points to the success of a session where The Bureau of Economic Geology is currently on more than 100 radio The program will feature 13 new the attendees ran an analog and a has created a new radio program — stations in 35 states, as well as available installments each quarter and will draw numerical model of an extensional rift EarthDate — which informs listeners for free at earthdate.org. The topics on experts from around the world, system. The results stimulated discussions of all ages about Earth science topics covered in the first 23 episodes include including researchers from the Jackson on the strengths and limitations of both in two-minute episodes narrated by landslides, the Earth’s changing gravity, School of Geosciences. Listen to the approaches, as well as ways to increase bureau Director Scott Tinker. EarthDate magnetic storms and mass extinctions. programs online at: earthdate.org. collaboration between the two scientific modeling groups. “This hands-on approach during the workshop led to a direct exchange of ideas and facilitated networking between the different communities,” Dooley said. Jackson School Launches Two New Blogs The group visiting the bureau Two new blogs are giving an insider look into science and education at the consisted of about 50 modelers from Jackson School of Geosciences. Read both at: jsg.utexas.edu/news/blogs six countries and included early-, Analog Modeling of mid- and late-career geoscientists. The three-day workshop included 10 oral Tectonic Processes presentations on topics such as the Studying tectonic processes presents application of model results to field and Texas Geosciences geoscientists with a multitude of seismic data, different experimental Texas Geosciences gives an on-the-ground look into education and research at the difficulties, but none of the challenges techniques, and scaling and Jackson School of Geosciences. The blog features posts from faculty, research RESEARCH PROFESSOR ROGER BUCK (RIGHT) are more daunting than dealing with the reproducibility issues. Some 22 posters scientists, and members of the Jackson School’s communications office. AND GRADUATE STUDENT XIAOCHUAN TIAN, scale of the science: tectonic processes and two teaching examples of modeling BOTH OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, PERFORM AN EXPERIMENT SIMULATING CRUSTAL are large and take place over a long methods were presented. BREAKUP DUE TO MAGMA INTRUSION BY period of time. Given these issues, The workshop concluded with a USING GREEN GELATIN AND RED WATER. models can be a very effective way of discussion where participants agreed understanding some of the processes that a better system was needed to Science, Y’all! governing tectonic deformation. exchange teaching material on analog Science, Y’all! is a blog run by graduate students in the Jackson School of Analog, or physical, models contribute models in classrooms, and that there Geosciences. The purpose of this blog is to provide graduate and undergraduate substantially to the development is an ongoing need for a system or of new tectonic concepts, as well as database to store and exchange model students with a platform to share their research and experiences with their peers benchmarking numerical models. Still, results, as well as a database of different and the general public.

the analog modeling community is model materials. SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS:

36 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 37 Update on GEOSCIENCES ACROSS TEXAS the Future of From exploring energy Undergraduate frontiers to monitoring earthquakes, the Geoscience Jackson School of Education Geosciences benefits Texans statewide. The National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored initiative on the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education continues to work on changing undergraduate education to meet the needs of the 9. WATER SCARCITY RESEARCH SARAH GEORGE (LEFT) AND TOMAS CAPALDI AT THE U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING. workforce and society. Leading research on the impact that The recommendations of this national effort involved energy production and agriculture input from over 1,000 academics and geoscience have on water use and on how to employers. About 100 department heads and manage the state’s limited water JSG Students chairs nationwide have started implementing these resources. (See page 28). recommendations into their undergraduate programs 10. STUDYING METHANE Represent Geosciences and curricula. The organizing committee, led by Jackson HYDRATE AS A FUTURE ENERGY School Dean Sharon Mosher, is evaluating the heads SOURCE (See page 58). at NSF Expo and chairs successes and problems in implementing change over the past 18 months. The goal is to find 11. GULF BASIN DEPOSITIONAL Jackson School of Geosciences graduate students Tomas solutions that will help others in similar types and 1. TEXNET/CISR STATEWIDE Science, Mathematics and Engineering SYNTHESIS PROGRAM Capaldi and Sarah George took Texas geosciences to Capitol sizes of departments overcome roadblocks and SEISMIC MONITORING SYSTEM Mentoring, the highest such honor GBDS builds an ever-evolving picture Hill in May 2017, meeting with members of Congress and obstacles to change. Over the next year, the organizing AND RESEARCH (See page 21). from the United States government. of Gulf of Mexico geology using data their staffs to discuss the importance of supporting geosciences committee hopes to codify the recommendations and from academic and industry partners. research and education. best practices for implementation into a “Vision and The data recently gave companies 2. TXSON 6. THE STATE OF TEXAS They were both part of the Coalition for National Science Change” document. a first look into previously off-limits A network of ground-based monitors ADVANCED OIL AND GAS Funding Expo, a meeting that highlights research and At UT, this effort dovetails with President Greg throughout Texas that measures soil waters around Mexico, an area of RECOVERY PROGRAM education programs funded by the National Science Fenves’ Undergraduate Degree Transformation initia- moisture to better understand and critical interest and importance to A state-funded program that Foundation (NSF), and creates an opportunity for NSF- tive and Project 2021. This past year, the Department predict intense droughts and floods. the Texas oil and gas industry. funded scientists to engage with lawmakers. Both Capaldi of Geological Sciences degree transformation commit- assists oil and gas operators using and George’s research is supported by NSF grants, and George is tee formulated preliminary plans for enhancing our un- 3. SHALE RESOURCE AND the latest technology, geoscience 12. HR3D GULF SURVEYS funded by an NSF graduate research fellowship. dergraduate degree to increase undergraduate research RESERVE STUDIES and engineering understanding to High resolution 3-D marine The coalition includes over 130 professional organizations, and experiential learning and incorporate the recom- The most comprehensive public study increase production in existing fields imaging technology is giving universities and businesses dedicated to increasing funding for mendations of the national initiative. of six major shale plays in the nation and regional exploration projects. researchers a better look at Gulf the NSF and the research and education programs it supports. The national effort is a response to the growing — with half in Texas. (See page 16). of Mexico subsurface for the Capaldi and George represented the geosciences as a whole at realization that future generations of geoscientists 7. HURRICANES AND potential to store large volumes the event, including the Geological Society of America and the will need a wider variety of skills than past 4. MG&G FIELD COURSE COASTAL EROSION of carbon dioxide emissions and create a new industry in Texas. American Geophysical Union. generations, and a looming workforce shortage, in ON THE TEXAS COAST From using state-of-the art LIDAR During their time on the Hill, Capaldi and George met with part because a large number of geoscientists are A one-of-a-kind class that is training techniques to map the Texas coast the next generation of geophysicists 13. CORE REPOSITORIES the staffs of Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Rep. Lamar Smith of nearing retirement age. Recognizing this also applies to the Rapid Response program, More than 1.5 million boxes Texas to explain how NSF-funded research at the Jackson School to graduate students and that only about 50 percent for the energy industry. (See page 50). which places scientists at the scene of rock core and cuttings are is beneficial to Texans. of students who earned a Ph.D. go into academia, the of natural disasters soon after available for study at each of the “We let them know what we’re researching, and what we NSF has funded Mosher to expand this initiative to 5. GEOFORCE TEXAS they occur, UT is helping the state Bureau of Economic Geology’s can give back,” George said, mentioning how research on consider the skills and competencies needed by all A program that teaches high school understand and prepare for the effects three core repositories in Austin, sedimentary basins is key for hydrocarbons exploration. geoscience graduate students whether they have students from underserved areas in of natural hazards. (See page 18). Houston and Midland. George said the experience illuminated how science is often future careers in industry, government, academia Texas about the geosciences and helps prepare them for college and careers. an overlooked topic when it comes to policy. She noted how slips or non-governmental organizations, or are studying GeoFORCE recently received the 8. FORT WORTH METHANE IN 14. PETRA NOVA CARBON of paper used to document topics constituents called about have Earth, atmosphere or oceans. Presidential Award for Excellence in WATER STUDY (See page 12). MONITORING (See page 84). pre-printed check boxes for health care and jobs, but no such box You can keep up to date on the initiative and view all for science. the materials at jsg.utexas.edu. Click on the “Future of

“No one is calling on behalf of science,” she said. Geosciences Education” link. NSF EXPO: GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA.

UTJSG @TXGEOSCIENCES JSGUTAUSTIN @TXGEOSCIENCES JSG.UTEXAS.EDU 38 | Jackson School of Geosciences AWARDS & HONORS the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941. In at a research institution in Germany. Jackson School and College of water in the environment at a variety 1942, as a captain in the Air Corps, he Clarke’s research focuses on using Natural Sciences program, Banner of scales. served in New Guinea and Australia phylogenetic methods and diverse oversees a range of interdisciplinary in the photographic intelligence data types to gain insight into the programs for basic scientific research, division. Attaining the rank of evolution of birds and avian flight. She education and outreach related to the lieutenant colonel, he was awarded is particularly interested in the evolu- environment and sustainability. four campaign ribbons, five battle tion of living bird lineages and how the stars, a distinguished unit citation, and diversity, shape and form of birds have the Legion of Merit. Owen was key in changed across their deep histories. organizing the Geology Foundation and served on its advisory council.

HOOVER MACKIN ED W. OWEN Katherine Ellins Gets Mackin and Owen Added to Hall of Distinction Neil Miner Award The Jackson School of Geosciences inducted two new members into its Hall of Katherine Ellins, the program director Distinction, an honor that recognizes individuals with a strong affiliation to the for geoscience education research at school who have made high-level accomplishments in academia, industry or the Jackson School of Geosciences, government. Both are posthumous inductions. Scanlon Receives Hubbert is the 2017 recipient of the National Hoover Mackin was recruited by The University of Texas at Austin Department Award, Appointed Association of Geoscience Teachers of Geology in 1961 to occupy its first endowed faculty position, the William Stamps Jay Banner Receives Fisher Endowed Chair, Neil Miner Award. Presented each Farish Professorship (later Chair). Mackin was first appointed as a visiting professor UT Award for Great and Named Prieto year since 1953, the award honors an at UT to provide an opportunity for him to get a feel for the department and the Memorial Fellow individual for exceptional contributions Austin community. He liked what he saw and joined the faculty of the university Julia Clarke Recognized Teaching of Undergrads to the stimulation of interest in the permanently a year later. for Research Career Jay Banner, a Jackson School of Bridget Scanlon, a senior research earth sciences and is presented at the Mackin was a distinguished scientist. He was a member of the National Academy with Humboldt Award Geosciences professor and director scientist and hydrologist at the Bureau association luncheon at the national of Sciences and served a two-year term as chairman of the Earth Sciences Division of the UT Environmental Science of Economic Geology, was the 2016 meeting of the Geological Society Julia Clarke, a professor in the Jackson of the National Research Council. His early work was in geomorphology and his Institute, is a 2016–17 recipient of recipient of the M. King Hubbert of America. Ellins is the third person School of Geosciences Department concept of “the graded river” became a mainstay in fluvial geomorphology. He later the President’s Associates Teaching Award from the National Ground from the Jackson School to receive of Geological Sciences, received a undertook research in engineering geology, structural geology and field petrology. Excellence Award. The award Water Association (NGWA). The award this award. The other recipients are 2016 Humboldt Research Award. The Mackin was also involved in the mission to land a man on the moon and was one is bestowed by the president of recognizes major science contributions Professors Emeriti Bob Folk and award is granted by the Alexander of four experts selected by NASA to study the first lunar rock samples returned to The University of Texas at Austin to the knowledge of groundwater. Robert Boyer. von Humboldt Foundation, which Earth. Both a lunar crater and Antarctic plateau are named in Mackin’s honor. and recognizes great teaching She was also was recently appointed Ellins’ efforts to improve science He taught for 28 years at the University of Washington before joining UT, where promotes academic cooperation of undergraduates in the core as the William L. Fisher Endowed Chair learning and public engagement he supervised four master’s students and five Ph.D. students while a faculty between scientists and scholars in curriculum. He is one of eight UT in Geological Sciences, as well as being include curriculum development member of the department. Germany and other countries. educators who received the award. named a fellow of the Prieto Memorial for earth science, professional Ed W. Owen was a lecturer in the UT Department of Geology from 1952–1976, The award recognizes a researcher Banner’s research and teaching Excellence Endowment, which benefits development for teachers, multi- where he moderated Tech Sessions, participated in graduate seminars, counseled whose fundamental discoveries, new interests focus on Earth surface the Fisher Chair. institutional collaboration to promote students, served on the advisory council, and helped organize a history of geology theories, or insights have had a significant processes with the goal of under- Scanlon leads the bureau’s diversity in geosciences at the K–12 course—all while refusing a salary during his entire tenure. Owen was active in local impact on their own discipline and who are standing the interactions that occur Sustainable Water Resources and undergraduate levels. Her work and national scientific and professional geological societies, serving as president expected to continue producing cutting- between the atmosphere-land-ocean Program, a research group that has been supported by state agencies of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) from 1941–1942. The edge achievements in the future. Award systems and how these interactions combines a variety of analysis and federal grants, primarily the material he developed for his history of geology course was later published by the winners are invited to spend a period of are preserved in the geologic record. methods—from local field National Science Foundation, and AAPG as “Trek of the Oil Finders,” and has become a classic reference. up to one year cooperating on a long- As director of the Environmental measurements to data from NASA’s carried out in collaboration with

Owen served in WWI and WWII, serving in the Army in 1918, and enlisting in term research project with colleagues MACKIN: THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS. ALL OTHER PHOTOS: JACKSON SCHOOL. Science Institute, a collaborative GRACE satellite—to provide insight on geoscientists and learning scientists.

40 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 41 Bell, who joined the Department a professor and Jackson Chair in Integrated Ocean Drilling Program BAYANI CARDENAS of Geological Sciences in 1997 as Applied Seismology. (IODP) forum chairperson. Faculty Annual Evaluation Award Full Professor, DGS an assistant professor, is the John “UTIG is fortunate to have such

A. Wilson Fellow in Vertebrate capable scientists who are willing GINNY CATANIA Paleontology. His research centers on to help with the administration of Faculty Annual Evaluation Award understanding the complex dynamics our group,” said UTIG Director Terry Awards Associate Professor, DGS of vertebrate faunal communities Quinn. “I look forward to working with Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG Common Abbreviations: during the Quaternary Period. He is them in their new roles.” AAPG American Association of ELIZABETH J. CATLOS interested in investigating patterns As associate directors, Christeson Petroleum Geologists Max Kade Distinguished Visiting of vertebrate evolution, biodiversity and Sen will assist Quinn in leading Professor, University of Heidelberg ACM Association for Computing and biogeography throughout the the institution and provide guidance Machinery Quaternary, and the responses of and counsel. Both are looking forward JACOB A. COVAULT AGS Austin Geological Society 2016 James Lee Wilson Award, SEPM different vertebrate groups to the to the opportunity to take on the AGU American Geophysical Union Chuck Abolt Receives Bell Appointed New various changes in climate that took leadership position in the institute. JULIA A. CLARKE AIPG American Institute of place during the past two million years. “I would like to help in bridging Provost’s Teaching Fellow, NASA Fellowship Associate Dean for Professional Geologists between our four existing research The University of Texas at Austin Chuck Abolt, a Ph.D. student, received Academic Affairs BEG Bureau of Economic Geology themes using quantitative and Humboldt Research Award, a NASA Earth and Space Science Professor Chris Bell has been named DGS Dept. of Geological Sciences Humboldt Foundation computational methods and in Fellowship for his research on arctic GAIL CHRISTESON the Jackson School of Geosciences’ GCAGS Gulf Coast Association Knebel Outstanding Teaching Award, soils titled “Feedbacks between establishing stronger ties with associate dean for academic affairs, Geological Society Graduate Course, DGS topography and three-dimensional industry,” said Sen about his goals. replacing Professor Richard Ketcham, GSA Geological Society of America fluxes of heat, water, and carbon in ice Christeson said she wants to ensure STEVE DAVIS whose term ended this summer. GSEC Graduate Student Executive 2016 Tinker Family Publication Award, BEG wedge polygons.” good work is recognized within the “I’d like to personally thank Rich for Committee Abolt is one of just 69 awardees institute, and to reach out to the UTIG his fine service in the positon,” said JSG Jackson School of Geosciences PEDRO DINEZIO chosen from 385 applicants in the community on how the institute can be Dean Sharon Mosher. “Chris is an SEG Society of Exploration Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG earth science field. His award was improved further. outstanding researcher, educator and Geophysicists Young Researcher Award, UTIG based on scientific merit, relevance to “I have two projects I’d like to SEPM Society for Sedimentary mentor and will be a tremendous fit as tackle during the upcoming year,” NASA’s objectives in earth and space Geology PETER EICHHUBL associate dean for academic affairs.” 2016 Tinker Family Publication science, and academic excellence. said Christeson. “First, I’d like to Bell is exceptionally qualified for this UTIG Institute for Geophysics Award, BEG Working with Ph.D. advisor and Bureau continue efforts to secure award position, where he will be responsible for nominations for UTIG scientists and of Economic Geology Associate ANDREAS FALL academic affairs for the Jackson School, Director Michael Young as principal staff so that they can be recognized Faculty and 2016 Tinker Family Publication including the undergraduate program, investigator, Abolt will explore two for their achievements. Secondly, I’d Award, BEG student affairs and admissions. He is an Researchers hypotheses regarding changing like to meet individually with UTIG PETER FLEMINGS outstanding educator as shown by his scientists, staff and students to WILLIAM AMBROSE topography and the interrelationships Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG numerous teaching awards, including learn more about concerns, and any Southwest Section’s Levorsen between heat, water, and soil carbon Joseph C. Walter Jr. Excellence Award, JSG The University of Texas at Austin’s Memorial Award, AAPG levels of ice-wedge polygons to better recommendations anyone has on Chancellor’s Council Outstanding MRINAL SEN understand the geomorphology of the improving the work environment to ROBERT BAUMGARDNER WILLIAM FOSTER Alaskan tundra. Teaching Award, Texas Exes Teaching make us all more effective.” 2017 Tinker Family Publication 2017 Geo.X Postdoctoral Fellowship, Geo.X The study also includes develop- Award, Jackson School’s Outstanding Christeson and Sen Until this fall, Cliff Frohlich and Jamie Award, BEG TIMOTHY GALLAGHER ment of a software application to Educator Award, and five-time winner Austin, both senior research scientists, Named UTIG Associate WHITNEY BEHR Earth Sciences Postdoctoral of the department’s Knebel Teaching served as associate directors. Frohlich survey a study area of more than Directors Faculty Annual Evaluation Award Fellowship, NSF 480 square kilometers of tundra to Award, among many others. Bell just is retiring after nearly 40 years at Assistant Professor, DGS John Dorr Graduate Academic The Institute for Geophysics has estimate rates of groundwater release finished a four-year term as graduate UTIG. He served for 20 years as an Achievement Award, University selected Gail Christeson and Mrinal THORSTEN BECKER of Michigan at a landscape scale. adviser in 2016, and along with Bill associate director, offering support Sen to be its new associate directors. Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG Carlson, started the Jackson School’s and guidance to the director. Gail Christeson is a senior research JAMES GARDNER Undergraduate Research Honors Jamie Austin will be continuing DONALD BLANKENSHIP Knebel Outstanding Teaching Award, scientist at UTIG and Mrinal Sen is

Program in 2005. SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: his work at UTIG and serving as the Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG Undergraduate Course, DGS

42 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 43 GULF COAST CARBON CENTER MATTHEW B. WELLER JAMES BIEMILLER MEGAN E. FLANSBURG GAIL MULDOON Academic Promotion to Assistant Outstanding Research Award, JSG The ExxonMobil Outstanding Graduate Outstanding Graduate Student Award, UTIG Graduate Student Research Grant, GSA DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker Professor, United States Student Award, Rice University Spring Ph.D., DGS Air Force Academy 2017 Off-Campus Research Award, JSG SEAN GULICK EMILIE BOWMAN Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG CHOCK WOODRUFF Estwing Hammer, DGS Jackson School Early Recruitment STEFANO NEROZZI DAMIAN WAHLMEIER 2016 Outstanding Educator Award, GCAGS Fellowship, JSG Graduate Student Travel Award for Austin Geological Society, DGS SCOTT HAMLIN RACHEL BERNARD 6th Mars Polar Science Conference, 2017 Tinker Family Publication Award, BEG XINMING WU GSA Research Grant, GSA MASON FRIED European Geophysical Union ANNA M. WEISS 2016 Best Paper in Geophysics, SEG Outstanding Graduate Student Award, UTIG 2017 DeFord Field Scholarship, JSG NSF Graduate Research Internship ELYSE NICHOLS WONSUCK KIM Program, Smithsonian National JAKE GEARON Groundwater Field Methods 2016 Geoscience Information Society MICHAEL H. YOUNG Museum of Natural History JING “JILL” YANG Best Paper Award, Geoscience Fellow, Soil Science Society of America Folk/McBride Petrography Contest 2nd Undergraduate Award, DGS Best Poster Award, Consortium for Information Society Undergraduate, DGS Materials Properties Research in TOMAS N. CAPALDI MICHAEL NIETO Earth Sciences TIEYUAN ZHU Student Research Grant, SEPM STEPHEN LAUBACH First Author Publication Awards, BEG SARAH GEORGE DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker 2016 Tinker Family Publication Award, BEG Graduate Research Fellowship: Charles A. & June R.P. Ross Research Fall M.S., DGS DANIEL YOUNG Honorable Mention, NSF Fund, GSA Folk/McBride Petrography Contest 1st JOE LEVY Promotions William R. Muehlberger Field Geology MARGARET ODLUM Undergraduate, DGS Outstanding Educator Award, JSG BENJAMIN T. CARDENAS Fund, JSG Statoil Fellowship 2017 Travel Grant to the Fifth Planetary GAIL CHRISTESON Dunes Workshop, NASA/Mars ROBERT LOUCKS MICHELLE GEVEDON NATALLIA PIATRUNIA Associate Director, UTIG Exploration Program Staff 2016 Best Poster Award, GCAGS Folk/McBride Petrography Contest Outstanding Teaching Assistant, DGS JSG Seed Grant, JSG 1st Graduate, DGS JOEL JOHNSON DAN DUNCAN ROWAN MARTINDALE EDGARDO PUJOLS Associate Professor, DGS Outstanding Staff Award, UTIG Knebel Outstanding Teaching Award, SOL COOPERDOCK PETER O. GOLD Folk/McBride Petrography Contest Introductory Course, DGS Duchin Endowed Presidential Scholarship, E.D. Farmer International Fellowship, 2nd Graduate, DGS OSARENI CHRISTOPHER OGIESOBA KEVAUGHN EVANS The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin, Research Scientists, BEG Guion Library Staff Honors, DGS ASHLEY M. MATHENY Mexican Center of the Teresa Lozano EVAN J. RAMOS Student Research Grant, GSA 2nd Place Oral Presentation, 32nd Long Institute of Latin American Studies Duchin Endowed Presidential Scholarship, MARIA NIKOLINAKOU KATELYN HELBERG Conference on Agricultural and The University of Texas at Austin Research Scientist, BEG KRISTOPHER N. DARNELL Guion Library Staff Honors, DGS Forest Meteorology JENNIFER HARDING Ewing/Worzel Fellowship, UTIG Ronald K. DeFord Field Scholarship Outstanding Graduate Student ALEXANDROS SAVVAIDIS Fund, JSG NATHAN IVICIC KITTY MILLIKEN Award, UTIG Research Scientist, BEG MACKENZIE DAY 2016 Staff Excellence Award, BEG 2017 Runner-up Tinker Family DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker VALENTINA ROSSI Publication, BEG HIMA HASSENRUCK-GUDIPATI MRINAL SEN Spring Ph.D., DGS DeFord Technical Sessions Best Speaker ELSA JIMENEZ GSEC Student Service, DGS Associate Director, UTIG Fall Ph.D., DGS Staff Excellence Award, DGS MAHDI HEIDARI MOGHADAM SARAH DAVIS Future Leader, American Rock MENAL GUPTA ALEXANDER SUN Outstanding Teaching Assistant, DGS JASON SANFORD JESSICA KOLSTAD KIM Mechanics Association Outstanding Teaching Assistant, DGS JSG Best Graduate Paper, DGS Outstanding Staff Award, UTIG Senior Research Scientist, BEG Graduate Research Fellowship, NSF STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS LILY JACKSON STEPHANIE E. SUAREZ JULIE LAKE Visiting Fellowship, University of SCOTT A. ECKLEY GSA Research Grant, GSA Minority Student Scholarship Staff Excellence Award, DGS Minnesota Institute for Rock Magnetism Students Outstanding Undergraduate, Planetary SEPM Foundation Grant, SEPM Program, GSA Geosciences Institute STACI LOEWY KATHERINE ROMANAK DANNY ANDERSON Graduate Research Fellowship,NSF Gordon Award for Professional Promise, JOHN M. SWARTZ Staff Excellence Award, JSG Austin Geological Society, DGS 2016 Friend of Water−Rock Interaction The University of Tennessee, Earth and Off-Campus Research Award, JSG Travel Grant, GSA Award, International Association for Planetary Sciences SARA SIEBERATH Geophysical Contractors YASER A ALZAYER ALISSA J. KOTOWSKI MURAT TAMER Picard Excellence Award, UTIG Meckel Family Named Grant, AAPG NICHOLAS ETTINGER Muehlberger Graduate Research Fellow 2017 Honorary Research Associate, MRINAL SEN DeFord Technical Sessions Best (Structural Geology and Tectonics University of Melbourne JON VIRDELL Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG HANNAH BRAME Speaker Spring M.S., DGS Discipline), JSG Outstanding Staff Award, UTIG Outstanding Teaching Assistant, DGS Nomination for the best Ph.D. talk Outstanding Researcher Award, UTIG Graduate Research Fellow, NSF award, 15th International Conference of STEPHEN FERENCZ Thermochronology in Brazil BRIAN ZAVALA KERI L. BELCHER Groundwater Field Methods Award KRISTA SODERLUND DYLAN W. MEYER Outstanding Service Award, JSG Ronald K. DeFord Field Scholarship, JSG Graduate, DGS Director’s Circle of Excellence, UTIG GeoPRISMS Student Presentation CAROLYN TEWKSBURY CHRISTLE AAPG Grants-in-Aid, AAPG Honorable Mention, GeoPRISMS Graduate Student Fellowship, The REYNALDY FIFARIZ University of Texas at Austin Ronald K. DeFord Field Scholarship Fund, JSG

44 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 45 STUDENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM AWARDS In February 2017 the Jackson School’s Graduate Student Executive Committee organized its 6th Annual Research Symposium. Winners and honorable mentions are as follows:

LATE CAREER PH.D. STUDENT EARLY-CAREER GRADUATE STUDENT 1st Place: Douglas Barber (Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes): 1st Place: Allison Lawman (Climate, Carbon & Geobiology): A Linkages between orogenic plateau build-up, fold-thrust Coral-based Reconstruction of Interannual Climate Variability at shortening, and foreland basin evolution in the Cenozoic Zagros Vanuatu during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (950–1250 CE) (Iran-Iraq) 2nd Place: Kelly Thomson (Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes): 2nd Place: Tomas Capaldi (Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes): Tracing Environmental Signals from Source to Sink: Zircon Neogene foreland basin evolution during a shift to flat-slab (U-Th)/(He-Pb) Double Dating Applied to the Foreland Basins of subduction in Argentina (30.5°S) the South Central Pyrenees, Spain

Honorable Mention: Margaret Odlum (Solid Earth & Tectonic Honorable Mention: Brandon Shuck (Marine Geosciences): Processes): Detrital zircon (U-Th)/(He-Pb) double dating of Evolution of the Upper Lithosphere in the ENAM Area from 3-D Southern Pyrenees foreland basin fill: implications for sediment Wide-Angle Seismic Data routing during tectonic inversion and orogenesis UNDERGRADUATE LATE-CAREER MASTER’S STUDENT 1st Place: Emilie Bowman (Solid Earth & Tectonic 1st Place: Nicholas Ettinger (Climate, Carbon & Geobiology): Processes): Investigating Magma Chamber Evolution using A Multiproxy record of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event in Mafic Enclaves and Plagioclase Zoning: Grasberg Igneous Shallow-Water Carbonates from the Adriatic Carbonate Platform Complex, Papua, Indonesia

2nd Place: Reinaldo Sabbagh Maciel (Climate, Carbon & Geobiology): 2nd Place: Cole Speed (Marine Geosciences): Late Quaternary Sensitivity analysis of Lower Miocene sandstones to CO2 Paleochannel Systems of the East Texas Inner Continental Shelf saturation in the inner continental shelf of the Texas Gulf of Mexico Honorable Mention: Cody Draper (Solid Earth & Tectonic Honorable Mention: Juan Munoz (Solid Earth & Tectonic Processes): Trace Elements and Oxygen Isotope Zoning of the Processes): Holocene Geologic Slip Rate for the Mission Creek Sidewinder Skarn Strand of the southern San Andreas fault, Indio Hills, California BEST REPRESENTED RESEARCH GROUP 1st Place: Whitney Behr Research Group 2nd Place: Sergey Fomel Research Group

CLOCKWISE: 1. WHITNEY BEHR (FOURTH FROM RIGHT) AND HER RESEARCH GROUP. 2. DGS DEPARTMENT CHAIR

CHARLES KERANS (LEFT) WITH NABIEL ELDAM. 3. TIANNONG “SKYLER” DONG. SCHOOL. JACKSON SYMPOSIUM:

46 | Jackson School of Geosciences LIBRARY REPORT

Walter Geology Library 2016–17 Annual Report

In keeping with the new organizational seed money, but not enough to make it Last year, we mentioned the changes in the UT Libraries, The happen yet. Stay tuned! massive new UT Press book edited Walter Geology Library has begun Looking ahead, Library Storage by Andre Bober, The Collections, redefining spaces by taking down Facility #3 is under construction at the featuring materials from our Tobin two ranges of shelving and replacing Pickle campus; we expect to have it Map Collection, Barron Gem and them with additional study tables, open next year. This is just in time, as Mineral collection, and other collection making room for 20 more seats. Over LSF #1 and #2 are full, and one of our materials. The book is now available the next several years, we plan to shift current facilities is in the way of the online for those that might want to much of the legacy print collection expansion plans for the medical school. browse it here: thecollections.utexas.edu. to off-site storage and continue this A couple of collections news items Our social media presence is strong, transition to a more service focused are notable. We have acquired hundreds with almost 700 people following our facility. The majority of our journals are of sheets this year to complete coverage Facebook page (you should too!), and now available only by E-access, and of Italy, Greece and Western Australia the Walter Library twice sponsored historical access online is available for at 1:100K or finer scales, as well as local therapy dogs near exam time to many of them. Improved scanning and numerous atlases and other far-flung provide stressed out students with delivery will help us provide needed materials to support research. In some fur-time. access to the older print materials. addition, we teamed up with the other In staff news, Stacy Ogilvie is As the library’s reorganization takes science libraries to pool funding and working on several website projects, effect, duties and responsibilities are acquire e-access to almost 3,000 legacy most especially the sprawling shifting to provide more efficiency physical sciences monographs from geoscience thesis index, which we are without sacrificing our standards of Elsevier at substantial discount, which expanding to include abstracts and links service. The librarian will focus more we hope will make everyone very to e-versions, and consolidating into a on collections, research services and happy. Our colleagues at the American single searchable file. outreach, while the ongoing daily Geosciences Institute have also donated Four student workers graduated responsibility for the unit will shift to more than 20 cartons of pre-selected over the course of this year after many Stacy Ogilvie, our onsite unit manager, foreign geology periodicals and semesters of service with us: Hector and a new branch management monographs, adding some hard to get Peralez, Daniela Jauregui, Kevaughn structure. To prepare for these various new resources to our holdings. Evans, and our GRA, Katelyn Helberg. changes, the Walter Library is starting On other fronts, the UT Libraries We wish them well in their future the next phase of a de-duplication have hired a GIS data coordinator and endeavors. This year’s winners of the project. This means removing multiple a GIS technical staff person to help us Guion service award were Kevaughn copies of titles that are not circulating push forward our vision of a geospatial Evans for her efforts on our thesis enough to warrant their retention, and data server and more involvement in database revision, and our GRA shifting some materials to storage or to GIS services for the wider campus Katelyn Helberg for all of her excellent units where they may get more use. community. We are also proud to note cataloging work on our large cataloging We are still exploring the idea of that some of our Texas ScholarWorks backlog. Head Librarian Dennis converting our periodicals reading area open access materials have been highly Trombatore attended the GSA meeting to a display space for gem, mineral and successful. We are making steady in Denver, continued to serve as chair fossil collections and a small seminar headway getting author permission to of the AGI GeoRef advisory committee, room. We will be able to put more digitize theses, and we have added a and reached a milestone with his 20th specimens on display for more hours in number of meeting abstract volumes year of pottery contributions to the a more secure environment than is now and other materials in ScholarWorks, Austin Empty Bowl Project for the available, free up a room on the main ranging from historical to brand new, Central Texas Food Bank. floor, and the additional seating space many of which have been getting a will give us an opportunity to host great deal of use. You can visit the Dennis Trombatore small group meetings. This is a small open ScholarWorks repository here: Librarian remodeling project, and we have some repositories.lib.utexas.edu.

2017 Newsletter | 47 “Each week we were able to learn from experts of that field,

LEFT TO RIGHT: STUDENTS CAROLINE and got a feel for the different FIELD CAMPS HACKETT, NEERAJA SETLUR, CHRISTINA JAMES, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR areas of geology.” DANIELLA REMPE (SEATED), AND STUDENT ALISON TUNE CONDUCTING – RILEY MONK, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT A DYE TRACE AT VALLES CALDERA NATIONAL PRESERVE IN NEW MEXICO

The 2017 GEO 660 class spent six weeks camping and lodging at geological sites in seven states, learning how to interpret geological relationships large and small. Their stops included the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico; the GEO Sacramento Mountains and White Sands National Monument of ABOVE: BEG RESEARCH SCIENTIST PETER HENNINGS AND ASSISTANTS BEN SMITH New Mexico; the Sawtooth, Big AND TOMAS CAPALDI EXAMINE A HANGING WALL ANTICLINE WITH STUDENTS NEAR Belt and Pioneer Mountains of THE TERMINATION OF THE FRENCH THRUST AT MCCARTY HILL, SOUTHERN SAWTOOTH Montana; and the Valles Caldera MOUNTAINS, MONTANA. of The Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. The group conducted about 15 projects that taught new skills and honed existing ones in sedimentary geology, structural geology and mapping, igneous and metamorphic geology and economic geology. Distinguished Senior Lecturer Mark Helper led the class, which included site-specific instruction Geology field courses have been a ABOVE: CAMPING ALONG THE SUN RIVER, SAWTOOTH MOUNTAINS, MONTANA. RIGHT: DYLAN by other faculty experts including RASCH (LEFT) AND JESSICA VIERA MEASURE A part of geosciences education at UT STRATIGRAPHIC SECTION WITH PROFESSOR RON Whitney Behr, James Gardner, STEEL (CENTER) NEAR ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING. for nearly a century. Students in the BELOW: GEO 660A CLASS ATOP CLIFFS OF Peter Hennings, Brian Horton, ARCHEAN GRANITE AT FREMONT CANYON Charles Kerans, David Mohrig, Jackson School’s three summer field and Ronald Steel. Faculty were courses—GEO 660, Marine Geology assisted by assistant instructor and Geosciences, and Hydrology— Tomas Capaldi and six teaching assistants who rotated through

continued the tradition. SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: three-week appointments.

48 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 49 The summer of 2017 marked Students in the 2017 hydrology field the 10th year of the Marine course applied the knowledge and Geology and Geophysics field skills they learned in the classroom to course. The class began with investigate hydrogeologic processes three days of classroom and lab in diverse settings. With the generous instruction from experts at the help of Geoprojects International University of Texas Institute for (owned by Jackson School alumnus Geophysics (UTIG). The class Pat Goodson) and hydrogeologists then travelled to Galveston for from the Bureau of Economic seven days of at-sea fieldwork Geology, students drilled new wells and on-shore lab work. Students and performed pump tests along rotated daily between an on- the Colorado River in Hornsby Bend. ABOVE: (LEFT TO RIGHT) STUDENTS DOMINIK KARDELL, shore lab facility and two small Students then traveled to the Valles KELSEY ROLL, PAULINE TOLENTINO, NAOMA MCCALL AND ABOVE: (CLOCKWISE) STUDENTS WILL PINKSTON DURING AN OFFSHORE GALVESTON research vessels: the R/V Scott LANE COCKRELL, STEPHEN FERENCZ, Caldera National Preserve in New SURVEY. BELOW: UTIG RESEARCH SCIENTIST DAN CHRISTINA JAMES, CAROLINE DUNCAN AND STUDENTS (LEFT TO RIGHT) ALLISON Petty for multibeam, sidescan HACKETT AND NEERAJA SETLUR. Mexico where they used geophysical MG LAWMAN, WOONG MO KOO, CONRAD SUEN AND SIMA Hydro DANESHVAR (AT COMPUTER) ON THE R/V SCOTT PETTY and sediment sampling; and imaging, geochemical sampling, R/V Manta for multichannel hydrological monitoring, and stream seismic reflection, chirp and gauging to probe connections coring. This year’s course im- between groundwater and surface aged and mapped the buried water dynamics. river valley and associated channels of the Trinity River LEFT: STUDENTS SEBASTIAN MUNOZ (LEFT) AND beneath Galveston Bay and the NATHAN HSU. BELOW: STUDENT CAROLINE HACKETT WITH EQUIPMENT. Texas shelf. Back in Austin, students, integrated and inter- preted data for a final project that examined the geologic history of the survey area.

“All our amazing instructors have obviously put their expertise into the class. The main benefits of the class came from the field survey “We were given the reins to develop our own in the Gulf of Mexico and the research questions, design a field methodology, final group presentation. I process our data, and synthesize conclusions hope that all Jackson School to help tell the hydrologic story of the caldera. students can take this class.” This type of field experience is invaluable to

– WOONG MO KOO, GRADUATE STUDENT SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: me as I prepare for a career in hydrogeology in UTIG RESEARCH SCIENTIST DAN DUNCAN (IN BACKGROUND) AND STUDENTS (LEFT TO RIGHT) KELLY OLSEN, CALEB MELANCON, WILL PINKSTON AND ZONGPEN “FRANK” CHEN CONDUCTING Texas and beyond.” CORING OPERATIONS ON THE R/V MANTA IN GALVESTON BAY 50 | Jackson School of Geosciences – CAROLINE HACKETT, GRADUATE STUDENT 2017 Newsletter | 51 In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that Oklahoma have too much normal stress to slip, or are too parallel and have PRESENTATIONS experienced 34 earthquakes. By 2015, the number increased too little shear stress to slip.” to over 880, an increase largely attributed to the surge in Zoback and his team concluded that all relatively large wastewater injections following hydraulic fracturing, or recent earthquakes in Oklahoma occurred on “predictable” fracking, operations. faults, or those that show evidence for vulnerability to Mark Zoback, professor of geophysics at Stanford University, earthquakes. But the great majority of earthquakes do not occur gave a presentation at the Bureau of Economic Geology in June on mapped faults. about the connection between earthquakes in Oklahoma and This data can be used to predict future earthquakes, Zoback wastewater injection sites. said, but cautioned that even with their exceptional stress data, The talk centered on research there are many unknown fault sites. published in ScienceAdvances in June “The important thing is not only 2015 that linked earthquakes to identifying potentially problematic wastewater injection sites. Using a faults but identifying faults that aren’t new statistical model developed by problematic,” Zoback said. “But the Zoback and Stanford postdoctoral weakness is, we don’t know about the fellow Cornelius Langenbruch, the number of faults ... so only half the researchers predicted that high problem is solved. We know there are a magnitude earthquakes will decline lot more faults but they are just not on significantly if Oklahoma reduces the maps.” wastewater injection. Despite some uncertainties, the study “Our model allows us to forecast results spurred a recent decision by the the rate of potentially damaging Oklahoma Geological Survey to issue a earthquakes associated with water statement that recognized injection of injection in north-central Oklahoma wastewater into wells, specifically in and parts of Kansas in response to the Arbuckle formation, as the cause of reduced injection rates,” Zoback said. the state’s recent earthquakes. The physics-based model relies on In 2016, regulators in Oklahoma information about pore space, stress mandated a 40 percent reduction of state and fault orientation. wastewater volumes, which Zoback said Wastewater collected during contributed to the reduction in earthquakes. MARK ZOBACK, A PROFESSOR OF hydraulic fracturing, a process that GEOPHYSICS AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY “We forecast that the probability an injects water and chemicals into the earthquake will exceed a magnitude of earth to extract oil or gas, is disposed 4.5 in 2017 is 70 percent,” Zoback said. of in deep wells at high pressure. According to Zoback, billions “These high probabilities are basically cut in half from years of tons of wastewater are injected into deep layers of the ago, since injections have decreased.” Arbuckle formation and the underlying crystalline formation The work of Zoback and his team has pushed regulators in Oklahoma. He said this pressure causes the fault slip that to acknowledge the source of the recent earthquakes in produces earthquakes. Oklahoma, but hydraulic fracturing and wastewater disposal Zoback added that earthquakes often occur on permeable, continues in the area. preexisting faults. Potential solutions to induced seismicity include completely “Potentially active faults extend from the crystalline halting injection of produced water into the Arbuckle basement up to the Arbuckle,” Zoback said. “The pressure in formation entirely. Rather, Zoback suggests injecting the waste the Arbuckle was really small, but it’s so permeable that the back into producing formations such as the Mississippian pressure spreads out and finds a critically stressed fault, called Lime, a limestone layer where much of the produced water in an active fault ... which allows a pressure change at this depth Oklahoma originates. MARK to trigger seismicity.” Zoback said his team also plans to continue developing a Zoback and his team modeled potentially active faults by Texas stress map as hydraulic fracturing operations continue to ZOBACK assessing whether the injection increases pore pressure in increase in the state. the rocks. Also, fault orientation, or the angle and compass “They [oil companies] are still injecting, and our model shows direction of the fault relative to the ground, factors into fault that, at least in respect to magnitude five earthquakes, we are slip probability. still on track,” Zoback said. “We are going to know in the next “Fault orientation is very important,” Zoback said. “In general, few years how the model is holding up. The problem, while not few preexisting faults are likely to be problematic. They solved, is at least getting better.” MANAGING WASTEWATER INJECTION [preexisting faults] are either too perpendicular to the fault and

By Sarah Bloodworth

STRESS MAP: JENS-ERIK LUND SNEE. ZOBACK: ZOBACK. ZOBACK: SNEE. LUND JENS-ERIK MAP: STRESS OPPOSITE PAGE: A MAP OF STRESS ALONG FAULTS IN TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA. BLACK LINES INDICATE STRESS ORIENTATION. BLUE-GREEN COLORS INDICATE REGIONS OF EXTENSION IN THE CRUST, WHILE YELLOW-ORANGE AREAS ARE INDICATIVE OF CRUSTAL COMPRESSION.

52 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 53 FIELD EXPERIENCES

Studying Alaska’s Glaciers from Land and Air

I am in Alaska surveying glaciers for In order to do this, we outfitted a when weather is good, and can rarely NASA’s Operation IceBridge. I work turbine Otter aircraft that operates make specific plans beyond what the with Chris Larsen and Martin Truffer on wheel-skis so we can land on 24-hour weather forecast holds. Even of the Geophysical Institute at the hard surfaces or snow, as needed. We then, it is often a matter of heading out University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF). sometimes land on glaciers just to have for a flight half expecting to turn back. Chris is the principal investigator and a convenient spot to add fuel from When it’s clear and calm, it is some of Martin and I are co-investigators on drums. Our “home base” is a remote the most spectacular scenery anywhere. the project. UAF has a decades-long lodge that is only accessible by bush When we are grounded but local history of monitoring the surface aircraft, nestled against the Chitina weather is okay, I try to fit in some work elevation of Alaskan glaciers using River and surrounded by Wrangell- on nearby debris-covered glaciers for airborne LIDAR, and we are continuing St. Elias National Park. Paul Claus of Mars analog work. Just today I flew that tradition with the addition Ultima Thule Outfitters owns and pilots out to a nearby airstrip and hiked up of radar sounding to measure the the Otter, and he is one of the most to a debris-covered glacier where my thickness of the ice. That’s my main experienced bush pilots in Alaska. This students Eric Petersen and Stefano responsibility. It’s quite a challenge to is important due to the steep terrain, Nerozzi have conducted a great deal sound Alaskan glaciers because they some of the steepest in the world, of surface geophysics. I checked on a are warm, wet, heavily crevassed and and rapidly changing weather with weather station we installed to make usually close to mountains and valley the potential for strong winds and sure it’s operational before winter sets in. Tracking Tectonic Links walls that reflect the radar energy, turbulence at any time. A nice way to spend a “day off.” As long obscuring echoes from the base of the From this outpost in the wilderness as I don’t encounter a grizzly up close. Among Andean Mountains glaciers. But it is all new information we cover all of the major Alaskan Tomas Capaldi, a Ph.D. student who studies mountain building in the Argentine Andes and important for understanding the glaciers, from the Juneau icefield in the Jack Holt with Professor Brian Horton, spent time this summer in Argentina conducting field rapidly changing ice of Alaska, so it’s southeast to the Kenai Peninsula in the Research Professor, work in the San Juan province two hours north of the city of Mendoza. His research also rewarding work. west. We put in some very long days University of Texas Institute for Geophysics involved studying Andean tectonic provinces and the respective sediment record during mountain building by conducting geologic mapping, measuring stratigraphic sections, and collecting rock samples for sediment provenance analysis. This actively deforming mountain belt has produced destructive earthquakes greater than 7.0-magnitude. The goal of his research is to understand the tectonic links among Andean mountain building and foreland basin evolution during Miocene to modern low-angle subduction of the Nazca oceanic plate. Capaldi was assisted in the field by Margo Odlum, a Ph.D. student who studies Pyrenean tectonics with Professor Daniel Stockli. Distinguished Senior Lecturer TOP: TOMAS CAPALDI AND MARGO ODLUM Mark Helper and Jackson School Dean Sharon Mosher joined the group for a week to AT THE PRECORDILLERA FOLD-THRUST BELT LEFT: ODLUM WITH ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY help map the geology around the seismically active Sierra Villicum and Sierra Pie de BETWEEN SILURIAN OLISTOSTROMES AND Palo ranges in San Juan, Argentina. MIOCENE CONGLOMERATES.

GEOFORCE TEXAS GIVES A HOOK ’EM ON MT. HOOD. GeoFORCE Field Update

GeoFORCE Texas students on Mt. Hood in Oregon during a summer field trip. GeoFORCE is a unique outreach program of the Jackson School of Geosciences that helps high school TOP: SURFACE SURVEY WORK ON THE BAGLEY ICEFIELD, THE LARGEST NON-POLAR ICEFIELD. students from disadvantaged areas in inner-city Houston and RIGHT: STUDENTS STEFANO NEROZZI (LEFT) rural Southwest Texas pursue an education and career in the AND ERIC PETERSEN INSTALL A WEATHER

STATION ON SOURDOUGH ROCK GLACIER. ALASKA GLACIERS: TRACKING JACK HOLT. TECTONIC LINKS: TOMAS CAPALDI. GEOFORCE: KATHLEEN HAGERTY. sciences, particularly the geosciences and engineering.

54 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 55 LEFT: A VOLCANO ERUPTING IN ECUADOR RIGHT: THE GEO 391 GROUP NEAR A WATERFALL IN THE AMAZON BASIN

Ocean Front Property in Colorado

The most wonderful time of the year mud. However, on the Western Slope fossiliferous, and what methods are for a paleontologist is field season. It’s of the Rockies, Dr. David Noe (a UT best for finding fossils in each of those when new discoveries are made, and geology grad) spent a major part of units. For just a few days of collecting, friendships and collaborations are his career at the Colorado Geological we ended up with a tremendous haul strengthened. This year’s field season Survey mapping the Mancos and of fossils. These thousands of feet of was special for me because I began what correlating it with the sections across Cretaceous mud were anything but the Exploring the Link Between will be a long-term project in the Upper Colorado and Utah. Using Dr. Noe’s barren wasteland devoid of fossils that Cretaceous Mancos Shale of Colorado. maps and expertise, we were able to other geoscientists had made them out Amazon Ecology and Geology in Ecuador Those rocks represent almost 15 million nail down the unit (albeit a thick one) to be. This year’s Mancos field season is years of deposition in a shallow ocean, within the Mancos from which the BYU just the start of many more to come! A 3-credit course in Dynamic Field interactions of geological processes magmatism, active faulting and varied one that stretched from the modern-day mosasaur was collected. Stratigraphy (GEO 391) explored the (tectonic uplift, magmatism, erosion, hydrocarbon systems. Several additional Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic. The area around Delta, Colorado Joshua Lively diverse geologic record of the Andes sedimentation) with the Amazonian highlights included a bewildering array My long-term research goal is to exposes most of the Mancos Shale, Ph.D. student of Ecuador, with emphasis on the biological and climate system. UT of flora and fauna, huge waterfalls, and understand the evolution of ecosystems eroding into beautiful badlands that sedimentary, stratigraphic, climatic students joined forces with Ecuadorian the unexpected viewing of an active throughout the greenhouse climate of seemed ripe for fossil prospecting. and biological consequences of Andean colleagues and worked with UT volcanic eruption from a safe distance. the Cretaceous, with an eye toward I applied for a Bureau of Land uplift. The course culminated in a 10- professors and researchers Brian The trip was made possible by funding using those data to hypothesize how Management survey permit and planned day field trip (April–May, 2017) across Horton, Ron Steel and Cornel Olariu from Chevron. ecosystems of the future may respond to a trip for early August to explore the the orogenic belt, from the Amazon to assess the long-term sedimentary warmer global climate. For my disserta- area. On the first day, Dr. Noe led my basin in the east to the Pacific coast in and structural evolution of the Oriente Brian Horton tion, I am focusing on one particular volunteers and me to a few localities of the west. As a region with some of the foreland basin, Inter-Andean Valley, Professor, Department of Geological Sciences group of marine reptiles called mosa- interest, explaining the various units highest biodiversity on Earth, there magmatic arc and western forearc Research Professor, Institute for Geophysics saurs. Mosasaurs were a group of fully he designated within the Mancos. From remain key questions regarding the basin, with consideration of active marine lizards that ranged in size from there, we began prospecting a few a couple of meters up to 18 meters. My select units near Delta. High in section, investigation of the Mancos Shale in we found several specimens of the western Colorado was originally moti- ammonite Baculites in the same unit as vated by a mosasaur specimen collected the BYU mosasaur. Those fossils will by Brigham Young University (BYU) be incredibly helpful for refining the Studying Flux in Arctic Lagoons in 1975. That specimen has a 1.2 meter stratigraphic position of that specimen In collaboration with colleagues from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute lower jaw and represents an important with reference to radiometrically (MSI), we are trying to understand groundwater fluxes in Arctic lagoons. Groundwater part of the story of mosasaur evolution. I dated sections. In the days to follow, is an unknown component of the coastal water cycle, and it could be an important wanted to find this animal’s type locality a volunteer of mine, Lexy Holfeltz, pathway for nutrients and carbon from land going to the sea. The picture on the left to better understand its stratigraphic struck gold by finding fish specimens shows Professor Jim McClelland from the MSI. He is looking at a seepage meter which position within the Mancos. Very few in carbonate layers that correlate to the captures and measures groundwater seepage from the sediment. The trip also involved notes were kept during the excavation, Niobrara Chalk of the Front Range and measuring a dissolved gas tracer in seawater across Kaktovik lagoon. The nearby but I was ultimately able to track down Kansas. These were thin, fragile fossils village was a popular hang out spot for polar bears. There were at least 21 bears in the the locality using Google Earth and a that are extremely difficult to preserve village while we were there! grainy photo of the excavation in a and find. master’s thesis. It was extremely helpful I’ve had the opportunity to work in a CLOCKWISE: 1.THE MANCOS SHALE IN DELTA, COLORADO. 2. THE BRIGHAM YOUNG Bayani Cardenas that the vegetation had not changed lot of field areas over the years, and each UNIVERSITY MOSASAUR, PROGNATHODON Professor, Department of Geological Sciences much in 42 years! one was unique. This first expedition to STADTMANI. 3. LIVELY (ON RIGHT) EXAMINES The Mancos is typically mapped as the Mancos taught me a lot about what A MAP WITH DAVID NOE, WHO MAPPED PARTS OF THE MANCOS SHALE. PROFESSOR JIM MCCLELLAND OF THE UT MARINE SCIENCE INSTITUTE WITH A SEEPAGE METER IN

one homogenous unit — 4,000 feet of units within the formation are most OCEAN FRONT PROPERTY: AMAZON: JOSH LIVELY. UA BRIAN HORTON. ARCTIC CARDENAS. FLUX: BAYANI AN ARCTIC LAGOON

56 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 57 THE HELIX Q4000 DEEPWATER WELL INTERVENTION VESSEL ROUGHLY 140 MILES OFF THE COAST OF LOUISIANA FUELING THE FUTURE A group of Jackson School scientists and students embark on a high-stakes research mission

BY ANTON CAPUTO

Gulf of Mexico — Standing on the coring vessel, while still keeping the The ultimate goal is to figure out how On this particular day in the middle planned for 2020 in partnership with about the energy-rich substance, helideck of the Helix Q4000 with methane hydrate under pressure. to one day tap the potentially enormous of the operations the team was feeling the International Ocean Discovery many focusing on the peculiar and nothing but waves in sight, Peter Under pressure — that’s the energy resource. relieved, at least temporarily, with the Program (IODP). Ultimately, Flemings entertaining fact that even though Flemings is bleary eyed and exhausted. important part. Pressure, in many ways, “This is the start of a systematic first successful core. But soon after this didn’t abandon the mission but halted methane hydrate appears and feels But, for this moment at least, the is what this mission is about. experimental and theoretical effort success, the pressure would return as operations and instructed the team to like ice, you can light it on fire. It’s a Jackson School of Geosciences The science crew’s chief goal is to to understand the potential to core after core afterward came back do what scientists and engineers do: trick that is easy to find on YouTube, professor and chief scientist of return samples of this ice-like, energy- produce methane hydrates in an a failure, prompting Flemings to halt work through the problem and find a although it’s nearly always accomplished the coring mission is relieved and rich hydrate to the surface of the ship environmentally sustainable, safe and operations and consider abandoning the solution — all with the clock ticking with a small sample created in a lab, not something akin to happy. under the same immense pressure economic manner,” Flemings said. coring altogether. and budget mounting. methane hydrate found in nature. The scene marks a seminal moment it is found in its natural state (about It’s big science. Important science. “We spent the first 10 days out here in The pressure was on. This much is known about methane in a ground-breaking project, an 230 times the pressure found on the And it involves lots of pressure. a state of complete and utter failure,” he hydrate — there’s a lot of it. It is found $80-million, multi-year national effort surface) so they can begin to unravel Flemings and his team have felt im- would later remember. “I was within 24 MORE THAN all over the planet in places where that the U.S. Department of Energy its properties. This involves keeping mense pressure of their own during the hours of abandoning the expedition and FIRE AND ICE methane is under sufficient pressure (DOE) picked the Jackson School to lead. the pressure on the cores throughout mission, particularly in the early days of cutting our losses. Each day, we would and low temperatures, generally under Flemings and his team have finally their mile-plus journey up the drill coring. They were met with failure after update our budget and would find us Much about methane hydrate is a frozen permafrost or beneath the hit pay dirt, pulling a core of frozen string to the deck of the coring vessel, failure when the experimental coring $350,000 further in the hole with mystery even to the small group of ocean floor. methane hydrate from about 1,300 feet and eventually through their 500-mile tool didn’t work properly and returned a nothing to show for it.” scientists who study it. To the general The substance is made up of water under the Gulf floor, through a mile of journey to Austin to the new state-of- soupy, muddy mess to the deck instead of At risk was the future of the project, public, it’s largely unknown. There molecules that form a crystal lattice, have been a smattering of news stories

water, and to the deck of the deep-water the-art lab in the Jackson School. the pressurized cores they were seeking. SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTO: including a much larger coring mission which traps the methane inside. The

58 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 59 “WE HAD NO IDEA OF THE COMPLEXITY OF WHAT WE WERE PROPOSING TO DO.”

- PETER FLEMINGS

dense, ice-like structure holds more escape, and you’ll be left with just water.” on flimsy extrapolations, and so little proposal to the DOE to core and “The actual magnitude of the equipment LEFT: THE HELIX Q4000 IS EQUIPPED WITH THOUSANDS OF FEET OF than 100 times the energy per unit This difficult-to-reach methane — is really known about the properties study methane hydrate in 2014. Back is insane,” he said. “Humans constructed DRILLING PIPE TO CONDUCT of volume than methane found at the the chief constituent in natural gas and concentration of methane hydrate then, the whole proposition seemed this. We engineered this. We thought DEEPWATER MISSIONS. ABOVE: AN atmospheric pressure of the surface — represents a potentially vast energy deposits throughout the world. relatively straight forward. of a way to build a city on the ocean. EXHAUSTED PETER FLEMINGS, A JACKSON SCHOOL PROFESSOR, LOOKS of the Earth. That’s why people like resource for the future, especially for In addition, much of the hydrate “To be frank,” said Flemings, “we had Seeing it come to life is quite inspiring.” OFF INTO THE HORIZON. Jackson School postdoctoral fellow coastal nations with limited resources that’s been studied to date is found no idea of the complexity of what we Petrou is among a handful of young Stephen Phillips made the trip to the striving for energy security. Japan, in shale and mudrocks, geological were proposing to do.” Jackson School scientists who made the Gulf in May, working 12-hour shifts China, South Korea and India, for formations whose characteristics make trip in May with Flemings, a group that (and often much longer) to set up labs, instance, have active programs trying recovery more difficult. Flemings’ team UNFAMILIAR includes two graduate students. Petrou plot the best coring locations, and to tackle many of the same questions as is looking at methane hydrate in areas SURROUNDINGS did a year abroad at the Jackson School process and analyze core samples as Flemings’ group. that should theoretically be easier to in 2015–16 where he took Flemings’ they are pulled on deck. The estimates of how much energy one day produce. The deck of the Q4000 is an alien and energy exploration course. He jumped at “One liter of methane hydrate down is held in methane hydrate throughout “What’s different here is that we dangerous place for anyone not used to Flemings’ offer to join the mission after below the seafloor, if you bring it up the world vary greatly, but they are are directly targeting sand layers that deepwater operations. Jackson School graduating and is using the experience here, is 160 liters of methane,” said enormous. Some estimates contend have, we think, high concentrations of Research Engineer Associate Ethan as an opportunity to judge whether Phillips, smiling from beneath the brim these deposits hold more energy than methane hydrates,” he said. Petrou is in that group. Petrou, who hails he’s cut out for a career in energy of his ever-present Cubs hat. “But if you all other fossil fuels on the planet That was the thinking when he from the United Kingdom, had never exploration. His mind is far from made bring it up to the surface, it’s basically combined. Flemings mostly discounts and a group of like-minded scientists been on a large boat before and finds the up at this point, but Petrou said he’d setting formidable and exciting.

going to melt and the methane will those numbers because they are based from around the country wrote a SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: definitely go offshore again.

60 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 61 “YOU CAN’T REALLY COMPREHEND IT UNTIL YOU’RE HERE.”

- ETHAN PETROU

“You can’t really comprehend it until in operations. Every member of the cranes instills the sense and necessity In very short order, everyone on the are long and the overall setting is unlike you’re here, but once you get adjusted, science crew was required to take and of this rule pretty deeply. Another rule: science team seemed to understand that most anything the science team had life out here is rather fun,” he said. pass several certification courses. One keep your hands off everything except the rules are sensible and important ever dealt with. “Everybody is like a little family.” focused on teaching you how to react, safety rails unless you have a specific and help instill a sense of order and There are 24 members of the science The vessel itself is a semi-submersible, and hopefully survive, if the helicopter need and the correct training. Why? familiarity in a setting that first seemed team in all. In addition to the Jackson meaning it doesn’t anchor to the Gulf that ferries people to and from the Because everything on deck is metal chaotic and unrecognizable. School cadre, there are professors and floor. It stays in one location during vessel goes down. Another is a basic and massive, and putting your hand in “It’s an interesting environment,” said students from The Ohio State University operations through the use of a dynamic safety course for simply setting foot the wrong place could be a potentially Jackson School graduate student Kevin and Columbia University Lamont- positioning system that employs six on a deepwater vessel. These courses dangerous — or even fatal — mistake if Meazell. "You have to focus on safety at Doherty Earth Observatory as well thrusters to continually move the vessel are also required of the crew, although a load unexpectedly shifts or powerful all times.” as scientists from the DOE, the U.S. minute distances to keep it zeroed in on most have training well beyond the equipment starts moving. And finally, if Geological Survey (USGS) and Geotek, a LEFT: JACKSON SCHOOL RESEARCH the right spot. On deck are massive cranes basic classes. you’re doing most anything on the deck SCIENCE AND EDUCATION scientific coring company. ENGINEER ASSOCIATE ETHAN capable of moving loads of hundreds of The lessons learned in these courses — like say, taking pictures or videos — Peter Polito, the Jackson School’s PETROU (LEFT) AND PH.D. STUDENT IN THE DEEP WATER KEVIN MEAZELL HOLDING UP tons. The main tower, which is used to are further drilled into you by the Helix fill out a permit that explains exactly methane hydrate laboratory director, DEPRESSURIZED CORE SAMPLES. build a drill string pipe by pipe to the Gulf safety team and the crew itself. Among where you’ll be, when you’ll be there, Adapting to life on a deepwater oil and has literally spent months preparing for CENTER: A CORE CONTAINING ABOUT gas vessel is not a seamless process 80 PERCENT METHANE HYDRATE floor and beyond, rises more than a couple the lessons: always wear full protective what you’ll be doing, and what safety the mission, working countless hours to SATURATION. RIGHT: THE HELIDECK hundred feet above the deck. equipment on deck and look up before precautions you are taking, and get it for professors, scientists and students make sure nothing was forgotten. Now OF THE HELIX Q4000 IS ONE OF THE You can’t just come aboard a vessel doing anything or going anywhere. A signed by the officer on duty and the used to the classroom and the lab. The that he’s in the middle of the Gulf, he FEW PLACES THE CREW CAN FIT IN A quarters are tight and noisy, the hours LITTLE RECREATION. like the Q4000 when it’s engaged few days of working around the massive SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: tool master. can only shake his head and manage a

62 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 63 TO VIEW A VIDEO OF THE MISSION, GO TO WWW.JSG.UTEXAS.EDU.

CLOCKWISE: 1.MOVING A CORE ACROSS THE DECK OF THE HELIX Q4000 TO THE LABORATORY FACILITIES. 2. (RIGHT TO LEFT) JACKSON SCHOOL POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW STEPHEN PHILLIPS, PH.D. STUDENT TIANNONG “SKYLER” DONG, PROFESSOR PETER FLEMINGS AND LAB MANAGER JOSH O’CONNELL IN THE DEGASING LAB. 3: FLEMINGS IN THE "DOG HOUSE" WATCHING THE DRILL MAKE ITS MILE-LONG JOURNEY TO THE GULF FLOOR THROUGH A LIVE FEED FROM THE Q4000'S REMOTE-OPERATED VEHICLES.

scornful laugh at the things he, and the game of corn hole in their very minimal labs on the ship for a first blush analysis. carefully conducting this test over a long O’Connell and Jackson School Ph.D. When outside the lab, much of the team, overlooked. free time. It is in this setting that the These are places like the mudlab, where period of time, the scientists are able student Tiannong “Skyler” Dong pull the work is being conducted in a cramped “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve science crew has set up a series of labs scientists prepare core samples for to obtain exact measurements of the first duty. Dong has studied all facets of office space just off the deck where called back and asked people to bring in shipping containers where they microbiological and chemical analyses. amount of methane in the core sample. methane hydrate, and found the process scientists and students huddle over things when they come out — power conduct the first analysis of the cores as Another container holds the lab where “We need to know the amount of of working with real pressurized cores seismic and borehole data. Theirs isn’t strips, thumb drives, ink cartridges,” they hit the deck. scientists run quantitative degassing. methane in the core because it gives particularly exciting. This, he said, is the first trip to the area by a group he said. “You think about this huge big In one container, there’s a workshop This involves holding the core in a us a good metric to quantify how when scientists will finally begin to of scientists interested in methane project and we’ve done all of the big where Geotek engineers assemble pressurized vessel and slowly bleeding much methane is in the area where understand if their more theoretical hydrate. There was a mission here in stuff. We’ve done everything we need and repair the specialized coring tool. off the methane hydrate and water into we took the core from,” explained analysis of the substance has been 2009 to drill and collect some data. to pull cores out of the ground, but we In another container, there is a large a bubbling chamber, and then carefully Josh O’Connell, lab manager of the UT accurate or off-base. Amazingly, the Q4000 was able to need to be able to print plots in real apparatus called the pressure core measuring as the pressure rebounds. Pressure Core Center. “And then we “Usually we just drill a hole and put find the same hole on the floor of the time, we’ve got to be able to take notes, analysis and transfer system (PCATS) This occurs because the frozen methane can actually extrapolate that out further some sensors into it and take some Gulf with remote-operated vehicles it we’ve got to be able to transfer data in a where the cores are transferred to hydrate, which is under intense pressure, across the area.” geophysical measurements,” he said. “With employs during operations. quick and easy way.” more portable containers capable of contains roughly 160 times the methane When the first pressurized core came those geophysical measurements, we try Postdoctoral Fellow Manasij Santra The deck of the Q4000 is about the holding them under pressure for per volume as it would under surface in, the degassing duties were shared to infer the concentration of methane spent six months pouring over seismic size of a football field. The only empty X-rays and scans of velocity and pressure. As pressure is reduced, the among the team through the night hydrate, but we cannot verify the data from this part of the Gulf before space of any size is the green octagon density measurements. methane hydrate dissociates, or melts, and into morning, as members took interpretation. By taking this [gas] out, boarding the Q4000. He was looking at of a helideck that crewmembers use This is also the area where samples are and the methane in the hydrate expands, turns bleeding off the gas and taking we can actually know very precisely how the acoustic picture of the land under

for exercising or playing the occasional cut so they can be transferred to other causing pressure to spike again. By SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTOS: measurements every hour. much methane hydrate is in the sediment.” the seafloor, he explained, and closely

64 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 65 people I never would have come in 2015 before taking them to the Gulf. From there, 21 pressurized cores of contact with. It’s definitely given me a After all the preparation, Polito said the between one to three feet long were lot of ideas to think about.” team was flush with optimism. That loaded on a truck and brought to the The extreme deadlines placed on optimism was soon tempered in the Jackson School, where Polito and the students to plot data in real time deep water, as the tool failed on all but O’Connell wheeled them into the newly and come up with solutions to critical one of its eight first attempts. built UT Pressure Core Center. This is problems, is also a driving force in their “You have this expectation because where an integrated team of scientists education, said Flemings. you’ve been planning it so long that and engineers from the Jackson School “You need to make a decision, and you you’re going to get 20 cores,” Polito and UT’s Department of Petroleum and have to come up with your best estimate said. “You don’t stop to think about how Geosystems Engineering will continue or your best analysis in the time you’ve difficult this really is.” their research. At the heart of the got, and that’s it,” he said. “I can see the But before the mission was over, the analysis is a desire to understand the students, they’re like, ‘Holy cow, now team would engineer an amazing turn- dynamic evolution of hydrate reservoir Flemings is asking me where to locate around, pivoting from almost universal properties as methane is extracted. exactly where to drill on the ocean floor. failure to overwhelming success. The Jackson School will be the hub No one has ever asked me to do that “Engineer” is the key word. When of the ongoing work, but it’s a national before and that’s a multimillion-dollar Flemings called a halt to operations effort. A multidisciplinary team of decision. I better not screw it up.’” mid-way through the coring expedition, scientists from institutions around the The young scientists aren’t the only the team scrambled to try to determine country is also joining the research. ones learning. Flemings, who has what was going wrong. They dug deep Depressurized core samples recovered been on many drilling missions and into the data, looking for clues that during the mission have been sent to “A YEAR sports more than a few gray hairs, might reveal the source of the problem. The Ohio State University, University FROM NOW said the mission has stretched him in They studied images of the tool as it of Washington, University of New surprising ways. came out of the bore hole, looked at Hampshire, Oregon State University, I’M GOING “The logistics and the paperwork sediment in the tool’s moving parts, and ExxonMobil and USGS. Eventually, TO KNOW alone associated with getting a vessel poured over engineering drawings. pressurized cores will be sent to the like this to come to the middle of this While they were doing all this, the crew USGS in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to THINGS particular spot is challenging in a way of the Q4000 was logging and cementing the DOE National Energy Technology THAT NO I never imagined,” he said. “It’s like the first borehole and moving to the Laboratory, and perhaps other locations. ONE KNEW trying to grab a hold of a bear. It sort second coring location. It would take 30 “I’m really excited for the science of overwhelms you, just planning the hours. That’s how long the science team that’s going to come out of this,” Polito TODAY.” pieces and keeping the things from had to come up with a solution. said. “A year from now I’m going to falling off the tracks.” The chosen fixes involved: grinding know things that no one knew today. - PETER POLITO grooves into a component of the That’s really exciting to me.” TURNING IT AROUND tool assembly that was binding and Now that the cores are safely in the restricting high-pressure fluid from Jackson School’s lab, the real work is May’s coring mission was a trial of passing through; replacing the ball valve just beginning. Still, Flemings can’t technology and methods pioneered seal in an attempt to achieve a tighter fit; help but think about how close the examining the boundaries of sediment The multidisciplinary nature of ocean to bring up samples of methane and welding small tabs onto teeth-like line is between success and failure layers for the telltale signs that methane drilling is like few other settings. It hydrate under the same pressure and grabbers that pull the core liner inside when trying to pull off something big, hydrate was present. brings together geology, geophysics, temperature where they are found the tool as the ball was closing in an especially when the pressure is on. “There has been a test in this area, chemistry and engineering. under the seafloor. The tool being used attempt to keep the liner from slipping “I guess what I learned, once again, so we know the presence of methane “By them being in the middle of is called the pressure core tool with and obstructing the ball valve. is that unbelievable focus and really, hydrate and what we see in the seismic this and seeing how all these pieces ball valve, or the PCTB for short. It’s “We must have done something truly working the problem can lead to data also matches that,” he said. “We fit together, this is an environment basically a long tube that is lowered right because after that change, we amazing achievements,” he said. “When really think we will get methane that literally drives students to whole within the pipes of the drill string and had nearly 100 percent core recovery,” everybody truly gives their all to make hydrate in this area.” different levels,” Flemings said. pulled up the same way after it has Flemings said. it happen, you can actually pull these All the tests being conducted are first- Petrou was particularly struck by the retrieved a sample. It is capable of coring Polito was even more succinct. things off.” order science to determine not only the experience of being part of a team that samples about 10 feet long. But in order “Thank God,” he said. ABOVE: PETER POLITO, THE JACKSON concentration and amount of methane was collecting data directly in the field to retrieve the cores under pressure, Ultimately, the team brought up SCHOOL’S METHANE HYDRATE hydrate in the sediment, but how it will and then working with it in real time, LABORATORY DIRECTOR, UNLOADS the ball valve must close correctly to just over 90 feet of pressurized core A PRESSURIZED CORE OF METHANE react or change when depressurized in an experience not often replicated in an seal the container, and a nitrogen boost to analyze, process and cut on the HYDRATE AND WHEELS IT INTO THE the event the methane is ever harvested. academic setting. UT PRESSURE CORE CENTER IN THE within the container has to fire. ship. Afterwards, they continued their Beyond the science, the mission, “It’s definitely helping me grow as BASEMENT OF THE JACKSON SCHOOL. The team tested two versions of the work for two weeks in Port Fourchon, AFTER THE REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL Flemings said, offers a learning a scientist,” he said. “To actually see tool on land at Schlumberger’s test Louisiana, where the science facilities MISSION, 21 OF THESE CORES WERE environment for students and young things I’ve read in text books. I’m TRANSPORTED TO AUSTIN AND facility in Cameron, Texas in December were relocated after the mission.

STORED IN THE NEWLY BUILT LAB. scientists that no classroom can match. developing new ideas and talking to SCHOOL. JACKSON PHOTO:

66 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 67 BY MONICA KORTSHA As technology has advanced, the planet Mars has gone from a faintly glowing red orb in the night sky to a familiar landscape. The NASA rover Curiosity releases new pictures of M the surface of Mars every day while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a NASA satellite, monitors the planet from space.

An eclectic group of researchers at the Jackson School of Geosciences is studying the Red Planet from afar using the constant stream of data provided by these NASA probes. Their work is taking them deep inside craters, through millions of years of ice deposits at the Martian north pole, and over sedimentary rock that was deposited when Mars was wet and has since been sculpted by wind A R into mile-high mounds. Members of the same group are also studying Mars-like locales on Earth to learn more about what the two worlds have in common. “Terrestrial analog work is a strength of UT,” said Jack Holt, a research professor at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) who is leading research on Mars glaciers and similar glaciers geology on Earth. “We have a really strong, field-based geology program, and when people in the Jackson School do planetary science, they bring a very strong background in the fundamentals in geology based on fieldwork on Earth.” The Mars researchers are helping develop an understanding missions of the geological history of our planetary neighbor, and how its distinctive landmarks formed over time. This in turn can improve the understanding of how similar forces shape our own planet and planets S outside of our solar system. It is also vital knowledge to have when planning future missions to Mars, whether it’s sending more advanced Learn more about Jackson School rovers, or placing the first pair of astronaut boots on the ground. Two recent Jackson School graduates exemplify how conducting research sites on the Red Planet and Mars research builds skills that can be used for studying Mars or our home planet. Cassie Stuurman, M.S. ’17, will be working at Planet Labs, a company in San Francisco that builds Earth-monitoring the people behind them. ABOVE: JEZERO CRATER. BELOW: MARS RESEARCHERS AT THE JACKSON satellites. And Mackenzie Day, Ph.D. ’17, will be continuing her SCHOOL: (LEFT TO RIGHT) BENJAMIN research on Mars at NASA’s Astrobiology Institute in Seattle, with CARDENAS, STEFANO NEROZZI, CASSIE STUURMAN, JOSEPH LEVY, the goal of one day making it to Mars herself. CYRIL GRIMA, MACKENZIE DAY, ERIC “It’s Mars or bust,” Day said. PETERSEN, TIMOTHY GOUDGE, DAVID Turn the page to learn more about Mars geology, Mars-like places on MOHRIG, JACK HOLT, GARY KOCUREK,

SARAH BROTHERS. JEZERO CRATER: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MSSS/BROWN UNIVERSITY. RESEARCHER PORTRIATS: RESEARCHERS. Earth, and discoveries made in both places by Jackson School researchers. RESEARCH ON THE RED PLANET Mars research at the Jackson School of Geosciences spans across the Red Planet. The findings are helping us learn more about our planetary neighbor, including the best spots to potentially look for signs of ancient extraterrestrial life, and where future Mars colonists could go to Paleoclimate on Ice River Research Dunes on Mars Chasma Boreale Ice deposits on Mars record Ancient eroded river and Beyond Dunes of ice and sand are at find water. This basic research on Mars could become vital information the planet’s climate history. deposits on Mars called In 2016, Mackenzie Day the bottom of Mars’ Chasma Ph.D. students Stefano “sinuous ridges” are leftovers (Ph.D. ’17) found that wind Boreale, a deep indention for future space missions. Nerozzi and Dan Lalich from a time when Mars was likely shaped Mount Sharp, at the planet’s north pole. are researching the climate a wet world billions of years a mile-high mountain Sarah Brothers (Ph.D. ’16) history of Mars by analyzing ago. By comparing a locale inside Gale Crater and the studied the processes that ice deposits layer by layer, a on Mars with similar ridges destination site for the shape these modern dunes feat made possible with ice- on Earth, Ph.D. student NASA rover Curiosity. For to understand how ancient penetrating radar on NASA’s Ben Cardenas has found her thesis, she compared dunes, now covered by ice, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. they likely formed along an dune patterns on Earth, were formed millions of Holt at the Helm of SHARAD ancient coastline and retain Mars and Saturn’s moon years ago. Brothers is now Research Professor Jack Holt is the the curvature of the Martian Titan and found that dune a postdoctoral research co-principal investigator for SHARAD rivers that formed them. fields form similar patterns associate at Texas A&M — a radar instrument on NASA’s across planetary bodies. University. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Holt’s radar expertise, honed on ice sheets NOTE: RESEARCH SITES LISTED ABOVE ARE NOT VISIBLE FROM VANTAGE OF MARS and exotic terrain on Earth, prepared ON LEFT. PHOTOS: NASA. him for managing an instrument than can see about half a mile below Mars’ surface. Much of the Mars research at UT — and around the world — depends on SHARAD data. Scientists Prefer Jezero At a meeting in February 2017, scientists selected Jezero Crater as The “Great Lake” their top pick to send a new NASA of Utopia Planitia Mars rover set to launch in 2020. Cassie Stuurman (M.S. ’17) discovered Postdoctoral Fellow Timothy Gouge a buried ice deposit in Mars’ Utopia proposed the site because his research Planitia region that holds as much water on the crater indicates it was once a as Lake Superior and creates distinctive wet, mineral-rich lake. Jezero is now “ice-cream scoop” surface terrain. among the top-three landing sites under NASA’s consideration.

NASA Scout UTIG Research Associate Cyril Grima helped NASA select the Elysium Planitia region of Mars as the landing spot for The Ice Cauldron of Hellas Basin its InSight lander, a probe scheduled to A volcano beneath an ice sheet — a land in 2018. Grima used a statistical structure called an “ice cauldron” — is technique he developed to analyze the likely responsible for creating a funnel- surface roughness of the site. shaped depression in Mars’ Hellas Basin. UTIG Research Affiliate Joe Levy found the structure after noticing a bull’s-eye pattern in the ice that resembled marks made by ice cauldrons on Earth.

70 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 71 LEFT: SOURDOUGH ROCK GLACIER, A ROCK- COVERED DEBRIS GLACIER IN THE WRANGELL- ST. ELIAS MOUNTAINS OF ALASKA. RIGHT: A DEBRIS-COVERED GLACIER ON MARS. SIMILAR TO THE SOURDOUGH ROCK GLACIER, ITS ICY CORE IS COVERED BY METERS OF DEBRIS. THE FOLDED SURFACE TEXTURES ON BOTH GLACIERS ARE FORMED BY THE FLOW OF ICE. BELOW: JOSEPH LEVY, A UTIG RESEARCH AFFILIATE, OBSERVES SIGNS OF GROUND ICE MELTING IN ANTARCTICA’S GARWOOD VALLEY, Visiting Mars on Earth A MARS-LIKE LOCATION ON EARTH.

Some environments on Earth have the Wrangell–St. Elias Mountains of a lot in common with places on Alaska, Holt and his students are using Mars. Conducting fieldwork here airborne photogrammetry, a technique gives researchers a chance to study that allows the team to calculate the features found on Mars and familiarize glacier’s flowrate by studying its surface themselves with our own world at the folds. Ph.D. student Eric Petersen is same time. studying similar glaciers on Mars, using radar data to determine the composition WET STREAKS IN of the ice inside and the thickness of DRY VALLEYS their debris covering. He points out his Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys research might come in handy to future are the most Mars-like landscape on astronauts looking to tap the glacier as a Earth, said UTIG Research Affiliate Joe water source. Levy, an assistant professor at Colgate University. These isolated, desolate lands have been frozen for more than one million years, with huge deposits of buried ice beneath the ground. In 2016, Levy co-led a mission to map the valleys using airborne LIDAR laser scanning. The project was specifically looking for areas where ice deposits showed signs of melting since the last scan in 2001. These melt features resemble those on Mars that have been observed flowing down certain slopes in warmer seasons.

BURIED GLACIERS Jack Holt, a research professor at UTIG, is tracking the ice at the center of rock- covered debris glaciers on Earth and

Mars. On Sourdough Rock Glacier in GARWOOD VALLEY: JOE LEVY. SOURDOUGH ROCK GLACIER: MARS GLACIER: JACK HOLT. NASA.

72 | Jackson School of Geosciences There are few living geologists who have shaped modern scientific thought as much as John Dewey. Since his John first field studies in Newfoundland in the 1960s, he has helped build the foundation of the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift, Dewey specifically laying out how tectonic movements explain the geology of Thoughts from one of the founding fathers mountain belts. of the theory of plate tectonics on geology, Dewey, now an emeritus professor of geology at Oxford, has lived and education and his own illustrious career participated in a history that students,

BY ANTON CAPUTO and many professors, can only read ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN MAISANO about. And with a personality and wit straight from central casting, the noted scholar is a master of bringing that history to life.

2017 Newsletter | 73 Over the past few years, I’ve given up all the field So I wrote to [Jackson the field looking at rocks and they’re spending all their Scotia. And I realized some select Jackson School work in South Africa and School Dean] Sharon teaching students how to time doing chemistry and of these rocks were quite students, faculty and even New Zealand and California. Mosher and said, ‘Would you look at rocks. physics and god knows what like some of the rocks I’d alumni have experienced like some sort of short-term I’m not saying it’s de- in the lab. looked at in Ireland. It’s not Dewey’s brilliance firsthand Q: You’ve conducted arrangement? I’ll run a field caying, and [UT] Austin surprising because actually thanks to a longstanding research all over the trip every year. I’ll come for is much better than most Q: What was your first the Caledonian belt comes friendship with Jackson world. Is there one spot a few weeks every year and places in terms of going teaching job? through Scandinavia, School Dean Sharon Mosher you haven’t been that you you can give me a consulting out into the field. [Jackson through Scotland, through that dates back to her days as would still like to visit? fee to cover my costs.’ It has School Professor] Danny Ireland, is chopped off by a master’s student at Brown worked very well. Stockli goes out in the field A: I came through the Atlantic and reappears University. Dewey led field even though he’s a machine undergraduate and graduate in Newfoundland and Nova A: trips for the Jackson School Yes, Antarctica. That’s the Q: What’s your impression man. [Jackson School profes- school in ’55 through ’60 at Scotia. It’s the same belt on as a visiting professor only continent I have not of the students at the sors] Mark Cloos, Randy Imperial College in London, both sides of the Atlantic. emeritus in the summers of been on. [Jackson School Jackson School? Marrett, Ian Dalziel are and then I got my first All that happened is that the 2014, 2015 and 2016. Professor] Ian Dalziel has often out in the field. But in teaching job. In those days Atlantic pulled it apart. They In 2014 he led a group been trying to get me there many places they’ve stopped you could get a teaching obviously do fit, you know, to Ireland and in 2016 to quite a lot, but something A: Really top-class. teaching optical mineralogy, job in academia straight and that’s what I worked on western Newfoundland always transpires, and I Absolutely top-class. Both for example. What I would away if you were any good. a lot. to visit the very locations can’t go. Trying to go down the undergraduate and the call basic core disciplines Nowadays people have That, in 1964, opened my where he first discovered there is awkward in a way, graduate students are very, in geology have stopped postdocs and fellowships. eyes to the Appalachians. a half century ago that the because I did much of my very good. The reason of being taught. But Austin is It’s now tough to get an And I got very interested two regions on opposite work when I was gainfully course is they’re very fussy very unusual in the modern academic position. Some because I’d been in the sides of the Atlantic Ocean employed during summer about who they take as world in keeping core dis- people are 30 or 31 by that Caledonian belt until then had nearly identical geology. vacation. But of course in graduate students here. I ciplines going. I think that’s time. I was 23 when I got looking at small-scale Sandwiched in between, Antarctica, you’ve got to go guess undergraduates, too. very important. my first academic position as structures. And then I got in 2015, he led a group in our winter. It’s highly competitive, so a lecturer in Manchester (the the opportunity to spend a to northern England and they can afford to be picky Q: So you are seeing field University of Manchester). sabbatical leave in Columbia Scotland, to visit some of Q: How did you come to and choosy about who work de-emphasized at at Lamont-Doherty. I was the most famous formations be connected to the they have. some schools? Q: You are credited with getting interested then in the world in an area Jackson School? being one of the pioneers in the correlation across credited with being the Q: One of the Jackson of plate tectonics. Can you the Atlantic and how the A: birthplace of geology. School’s major focuses Yes. Training the students discuss those early years Appalachian Caledonian A: When I retired I was in Dewey’s tenure as a is to make sure that to look at rocks and how of your career and how chain worked, what it was my 70s, and I thought, ‘Well Jackson School visiting undergraduates have to analyze and understand you became interested in made of. I thought the way do I want to keep on going professor is over, but he time in the field. Do you them; some departments plate tectonics? I should find out is this: I’m until I’m old and decaying or happily shared his thoughts think that is an important do it by remote sensing and going to make a map, an do I want to sort of pull out on the state and future of the part of an undergraduate virtual geology. That’s not incredibly long detailed map now of a full-time university A. I spent four years in science he loves and more. geosciences education? the way to do it. You need from Newfoundland all the job and just do research to go in the field and look at Manchester. Then I got a job way through to Alabama. Q: You’ve had an extremely at my own pace?’ If you’re rocks. Francis Pettijohn, the in Cambridge University I went through all the long and prestigious career teaching a course, you can’t A: It is essential and great sedimentologist, once from ’64 to ’70, and most state geological maps: in geology. What are you just take off for field work in has become a problem. said, ‘The truth resides in of that time I was working Vermont, New Hampshire, doing these days? Australia or something like Geological research, and the rocks.’ You can model it away at structural geology. Maine, right down through that. You’ve got students to obviously the people who do all you want, but ultimately I was invited to Nova the Carolinas, right down look after. it, are becoming much more you’ve got to go look at the Scotia in 1964 to join an to Alabama. I synthesized A: I spend time at home in I thought perhaps the quantitative and machine rocks and see what they say. expedition looking at some and generalized the geology, Oxford writing. I’m writing way to do it is to not go driven. [There are] lots and And the students love it Silurian and Ordovician and I put it on this map. my memoirs at the moment, anywhere permanently, lots of new techniques [to] of course. They love being in rocks. I loved that. First of And gradually, it was which is great fun. You but simply attach myself measure the ages of rock. A the field. That’s why many all it was great fun. It was amazing, there was a belt of remember things you think for a few weeks or months lot of really fantastic new kids go into geology. They the first time I’d been to the Ordovician volcanics that you’ve forgotten. Plus I do every year. Go somewhere techniques, so people are want to go in the field and North American continent. runs right down through a lot of little bits of local and talk to the students so really going straight into look at rocks and study I started mapping with a there. It runs right down geology around Scotland I haven’t got a long-term that more and more. They’re the Earth that way. And variety of people, and these through Vermont, down and England, France, commitment, and I haven’t spending time doing that many kids get upset at some rocks were fantastic over through New York. It goes Switzerland, within Europe. got masses of teaching to do. rather than spending time in universities when they find the whole area of Nova down to Pennsylvania; what

74 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 75 the submicroscopic level. instrumentation period There’s an amazing lady at back then.’ Attitudes change is it? And I started to see is the result of the evolution split, and then you have ’68 was the period where the Bureau of Economic always, and old people tend patterns of rock associations. of plate motion going on, seafloor spreading, which the idea was proposed and Geology, (Research to complain about the young. And then I said, ‘What do making arcs and splitting means the middle opens then it became generally Associate) Esti Ukar, the It’s inevitable. It’s probably they mean?’ They must and pulling continents apart up. There is a gap, which accepted. But there was things she can do would healthy. It keeps the young mean something in terms and colliding them again and keeps on filling up, and the still a rear-guard action by make your mind boggle. under control (laughs). of the modern world — this making mountains and all continents are basically just some of the older people For somebody in the was in 1967. And it’s got that kind of stuff. So that’s passive passengers on the who didn’t like it. But last century, they would Q: What advice do you have to have something to do how I got into it. plates. They keep moving basically by ’68 the thing say it couldn’t be done. for young geoscientists? with this new emerging around where the plates had taken off, and it was all It’s just necromancy. They plate tectonics that was Q: Was the plate tectonics move. They are not plowing over. It was taught in some wouldn’t believe it. But on developing at the time with theory controversial at through anything at all. university courses in ’68 the other hand, we’re losing A: I think I would tell them, Tuzo Wilson and people like the time? Harold Jeffreys had a to ’70. sight of some of the classic ‘Don’t do what old people (Dan) McKenzie and (Walter) big influence on the world, And then in the ’70s and core of geology, which is tell you to do. Follow your Pitman and god knows who. particularly Britain. He was even today lots of ideas are very important. Not here. own nose. If you have an I was in Lamont at exactly A: In the early days BPT — a professor at Cambridge, developing on the theme and Not in Austin. I think it’s idea, a series of ideas, just the right time. Serendipity. I before plate tectonics — the and what he was saying was how it works. There’s a huge maintained very well. follow it.’ If old people say, was just dead lucky. world was divided into rubbish because he hadn’t amount of work left to be This is partly because at ‘No you shouldn’t do that, the bulk of the people who thought about it in quite the done, but the basic theory is one time you went around do something else or come Q: What was your role in thought continental drift was correct way. That happens in there. It looks pretty good. a geology department 50 into my lab or work with the emerging research? rubbish, and a small group science a lot. It may be all wrong, but I’d years ago and everyone had me,’ ignore them. Forge including me and Lester Nevertheless, in Britain be amazed if it is wrong. I a degree in geology. Now your own career doing King in South Africa and there were a lot of geologists take Karl Popper’s view of you go around a geology your own thing. Most of A. I was doing this great probably 20 or 30 people in who thought continental science. You can never prove department, and there are the great ideas in science map, which was emerging the science who thought it drift must have happened. anything right. All you can people with degrees in come from relatively young as a fossil example of must have happened because In North America, it was do is prove things wrong. physics, materials science, people. So forge your own things that are happening if you compare West Africa different. It was a very anti- engineering, biology. It’s career, and don’t kneel or in the world today in plate and South America, A, they continental-drift nation at Q: How has geology good. It’s become multi-and bow before the old. I think tectonics. And I realized fit together perfectly and the time. They said in the changed since you started? interdisciplinary, and that that’s about it. that this is a place where B, you find old mountain ’50s, if you espoused the is what you want in science. an arc has collided with belts coming through and idea of continental drift you You want people coming a continental margin in it continues where they fit. would never get a job at a A: Geology has changed a at things from a range of mid-Ordovician times 470 It’s like a jigsaw, and jigsaws university in America. great deal. For the better angles, but that in itself has million years ago. don’t lie. Obviously, there had There was a change. It and the worse. There have taken its toll on the science. It’s the sort of thing that’s been continental drift taking was progressive, and it was been some wonderful It’s lessened the basic core happening in northern place by some mechanism. partly generational. The developments in geology, of geology. I’m afraid it’s Australia in present day. There was a man called people who were proposing mostly new ways of gone too far for the moment. It was kind of exciting. Harold Jeffreys who was plate tectonics were mostly measuring things. The It’ll come back. Things go in Lamont was the hotbed of extremely anti-continental the younger generation, machines we have now cycles. In another 10 years the development of plate drift. He said, rightly in a including me, Walter were unthought-of even 20 we may have the young tectonics. Princeton, Scripps sense, that the continents Pitman, Lynn Sykes. The years ago. people saying, ‘Oh, this crazy in California and Lamont in are made of weak rocks, only one who was older was Danny Stockli’s lab, for New York and Cambridge, rocks that deform and Tuzo Wilson. instance, is just state-of- too. So I just got swept up in squash easily. Oceans are If you asked who was the the-art. Right at the cutting it completely. made of strong rocks. The founder of plate tectonics, edge of the science. You My role was taking old continents are dominated by it was a number of people can actually measure the rocks, looking at the history quartz, whereas the oceans of course, but it was really ages of the rock vastly more of the world and saying, ‘Can are dominated by olivine, Tuzo Wilson who had the accurately right down to we explain all this in terms which is a very strong idea in 1965. He wrote plus or minus a million of this new emerging science mineral. So if oceans are a really classic paper in years. It’s incredible. It’s of plate tectonics?’ And I strong, how can you have ’65. He didn’t call it plate unbelievable the things you said, ‘Yes, you can do it, at continents plowing through tectonics back then, but can do. And you can do the least back for 600 million hard stuff? all the classic elements of chemistry of rocks very years.’ Before that, things But he thought of it plate tectonics were in it. thoroughly and the physics DEWEY IN NEWFOUNDLAND IN 1968. IN 2016, HE LED A JACKSON are different, but for that wrongly. The continents And then, by 1968, the cat of rocks. You can really pull SCHOOL FIELD COURSE ON

Phanerozoic time, it clearly don’t plow around. They was out of the bag. 1965 to rocks apart right down to PHOTO: BRITISH LIBRARY. TECTONICS IN THE PROVINCE.

76 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 77 Fossil Feathers, The Breakthrough Bird Research Winging & Singing of Julia Clarke BY MONICA KORTSHA Antarctica wasn’t always a frozen, dinosaur forefathers and mothers. desolate continent. About 70 million (In case you missed it: scientists “I think that our years ago during the Cretaceous Period, classify birds as living dinosaurs, the it was green, lush and teeming with sole dinosaur lineage that survived work on the syrinx dinosaurs. Thanks to discoveries made the asteroid impact at the end of the sets a starting by Jackson School of Geosciences Cretaceous that snuffed out all the Professor Julia Clarke and her others.) According to Clarke, the syrinx point for studying collaborators, we know that during the discovery could open the door to a new other fossil records Age of Dinosaurs the continent was also type of research into sound generation home to a much more familiar looking in extinct animals, and how it relates to of vocal behavior inhabitant: Vegavis iaai, an extinct sounds made by animals living today. member of the modern bird group that “I think that our work on the syrinx or vocalization.”

resembled a duck or goose and may have sets a starting point for studying other – JULIA CLARKE honked like one, too. fossil records of vocal behavior or Argentine researchers found the vocalization,” Clarke said. “We’re doing first Vegavis fossil on Antarctica’s Vega this in birds, but it can become a model Island in 1992. In 2005, Clarke, then a for looking at similar questions in research curator at the North Carolina other animals.” Museum of Natural Sciences, led a Clarke’s Vegavis discoveries are all detailed examination of the fossil and smaller parts to a bigger question she’s found that it belonged to the same chasing: how and why do unique bird evolutionary order as modern-day characteristics — from feathers to ducks and geese. The finding was the birdsong — arise? Her Vegavis research first hard proof of modern birds living exemplifies that these big questions during the Cretaceous, a theory that can help strengthen current fields of evolutionary research suggested but study, while forging brand new research needed bones to confirm. “The really exciting thing about Vegavis was that, in most people’s minds, it was the first really, really good fossil evidence for a modern bird — in this case the duck group — living in the Age of Dinosaurs,” said Matt Lamanna, a curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and a co-leader with Clarke of a 2016 fossil-hunting expedition to Antarctica supported by the National Science Foundation. In the fall of 2016, Clarke and another team of collaborators announced that a second, even better preserved Vegavis fossil included the syrinx, the bird vocal organ. Its presence in the ancient bird, OPPOSITE PAGE: AN ARTIST’S but not in other dinosaurs, indicates INTERPRETATION OF VEGAVIS IAAI, A BIRD FROM THE AGE OF DINOSAURS that the organ was not something birds AND DESCRIBED BY CLARKE. LEFT:

VEGAVIS: GABRIEL LIO/CONICET. CLARKE: JACKSON SCHOOL. likely inherited from their theropod CLARKE WITH FOSSIL.

2017 Newsletter | 79 directions. As a part of the Jackson case for studying birds in the fossil The feathers contained impressions black, like the feathers of starlings and “Only a few years ago, we never School faculty since 2009, Clarke has record, Clarke said. of melanosomes, color-containing grackles today. thought we could use the fossil record been mentoring the next generation of “It was a lot of new data and a lot organelles, which allowed the team Clarke’s research on feather to study coloration,” Clarke said. geosciences researchers as they take on of possibilities the year I started grad to learn that the penguin was gray coloration is helping us envision the their own big questions, showing that school,” Clarke said. “I could have asked and reddish brown rather than the feathered dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Bird Calls to Dinosaur Booms the so-called “impossible questions” can similar questions about a lot of different tuxedo that’s in vogue for most of its Era more than 100 million years have big returns. groups and been really happy, but it was relatives living today. The pigment in later, from the Holocene. However, These days, Clarke has set aside most of “I really like the hard questions,” just timely to work on bird origins.” the melanosome had long degraded; to she notes that studying the plumage her feather-coloration research to focus Clarke said. “The ones we think we Early in her career, Clarke dedicated determine the color of the feathers, the color of individual birds and feathered on the evolution of bird vocalizations. The can’t answer.” a large amount of time to describing research team studied the shape of the dinosaurs is a means to understanding discovery of the Vegavis syrinx last year “The starting Clarke’s Vegavis research is just fossils, honing her observational skills, preserved melanosomes — a feature the bigger evolutionary picture. Her opened doors to comparing the sound point here is the part of the story. She has been part of and building a strong foundational determined in part by the pigment they latest paper on feather coloration, structures of living birds with ancestors ground-breaking discoveries on feather knowledge of animal anatomy. Clarke once contained. The penguin discovery published in Nature in 2014, integrated from the Age of Dinosaurs, Clarke said, discovery of the evolution and coloration, and lately, said that this strong technical knowledge was important for its own sake, making the dinosaur findings and compared a field of study that has hardly been avian vocal organ, bird vocalization. It’s work that benefits is at the core of the questions she asks. the cover of the journal Science when them to nearly 200 melanosome touched on by other scientists. from Clarke’s curious worldview that “I don’t think we can even imagine it was published in 2010. But it’s also samples taken from across vertebrates, “The starting point here is the but we are also has resulted in numerous international the questions you want to ask until you significant because it helped pave the including specimens of animals discovery of the fossil avian vocal collaborations and fossil-hunting have that basis in anatomy and how we way for research into feather coloration living today and fossils. The research organ, but we are also doing really doing really core excursions across the globe. study anatomy and what are cutting in general. found that an increase in melanosome core work on trying to figure out work on trying to “If we want to understand the world, edge tool kits for studying anatomy Shortly after the publication of the diversity — and hence color — what’s changed,” Clarke said. “I don’t it’s a global enterprise,” Clarke said. generally,” Clarke said. “And once you penguin research, Clarke and a team of appeared with the first feathers. just describe fossils. I do a lot of work figure out what’s “A big component of my research is get into that you can go, ‘How does this collaborators deciphered the plumage “What I like to think I’m good on living organisms so I can ask new changed.” international research, and I think it’s structure work, why is that that shape, colors of chicken-sized dinosaurs with at asking is, ‘Well, OK, we can say questions about fossils.” key to get data points from some of the that’s weird,’ and let basic curiosity take more than a passing resemblance to something about a dinosaur’s coloration, In some cases, the research on – JULIA CLARKE most remote and inaccessible places.” you to some new area.” modern birds. In 2010 they found that but what does that tell us about a major modern birds can not only give insight Her sharp eye led to an important Anchiornis huxleyi — a four-winged system that governs animal coloration,’” into a particular fossil, but a behavior discovery in 2008. On a fossil hunting dinosaur that lived 150 million years Clarke said. “The last major paper of a range of extinct animals. Last Feather Finds expedition in Peru, her research team ago during the Jurassic in China’s we had on coloration was about the year, Clarke and her collaborators When Clarke started graduate school discovered a gigantic species of extinct Liaoning Province — had distinctive melanin-based color system and how turned their attention to closed-mouth at Yale in the 1990s, the first feathered penguin, dubbed Inkayacu, which lived black, white and red markings similar that evolved.” vocalizations in birds and related dinosaurs had just been discovered. about 36 million years ago during to a modern red-bellied woodpecker. She adds that the work the team did reptiles, such as the coos of doves and That new finding, combined with the Eocene and stood about five feet Two years later, Clarke and collaborators on plumage coloration was important the booming rumbles of crocodiles that TOP: A VIEW FROM VEGAS ISLAND IN field experience in Argentina with a tall. But the most exciting part of found that Microraptor, a Cretaceous to the field of paleontology because are generated through throat inflation ANTARCTICA. RIGHT: THE VEGAVIS paleontologist who was working on the SYRINX COMPARED WITH A SYRINX the discovery was that the penguin’s dinosaur from the same province as it helped prove that fossils record rather than by passing air through the FROM A LIVING BIRD AND THE

evolution of birds, made a compelling feathers were preserved. Anchiornis, was a shiny, iridescent VEGAS ISLAND: ANTARCTIC PENINSULA PALEONTOLOGY SYRINX PROJECT. AND LARYNX: JULIA CLARKE/UT. evidence of ancient colors. syrinx, an organ that’s unique to birds. LARYNX OF A CROCODILIAN.

80 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 81 and there were plenty — could also make closed-mouth sounds. “This makes for a very different Jurassic world. Not only were dinosaurs feathered, but they may have had bulging necks and made booming, closed-mouth sounds,” Clarke said in the news release announcing the research finding.

Impossible Questions, Innovative Research From feathers to vocalization and a variety of other research streams along the way, Clarke has always kept the big picture in mind as she conducts her work. Lamanna said that Clarke’s clear focus on larger research objectives is an asset for any research team, especially in Antarctica, where the environment can cause its own set of distractions. “Julia is super driven and focused, more so than almost anyone I’ve ever worked with,” Lamanna said. “Given the conditions in Antarctica, it can be easy even for seasoned field workers to lose track of goals, or to focus on things that don’t matter so much; but Julia just never loses sight of why we’re there.” But Clarke doesn’t view her research

approach as something unique to COMMONS. NAATHAS/FLICKR GRACKLE: YALE. DIGIORGIO/COURTESY MICHAEL : her. This spring, she spent a semester teaching a joint undergraduate and ABOVE: THE BONES OF THE EXTINCT PENGUIN INKAYACU. RIGHT: THE FEATHERED DINOSAURS graduate course called Curiosity to (TOP) MICRORAPTOR AND (BOTTOM) ANCHIORNIS HUXLEYI. Question about how to approach and conduct research. The new class encouraged students to embrace questions that they couldn’t answer and then develop research around related questions that they could, with students fossilized syrinx and modern analytical functions like immune system response getting hands-on experience conducting techniques came the calls of extinct and vision. Not all birds and reptiles can research under Clarke’s guidance. birds and dinosaurs. “It’s an interesting mechanism

make these closed-mouth sounds. “People were surprised with how : MICK ELLISON/AMNH. HUXLEY ANCHIORNIS Clarke’s own crop of Ph.D. students that’s unique and has the potential By statistically analyzing the much they could get done,” said Sarah is asking “impossible” questions of their to have been around for a very long characteristics associated with the Davis, a first-year Ph.D. student advised own. For example, Davis is researching time because it’s seen in a lot of ability or lack of it across 208 bird by Clarke and a student in the course. feather coloration. But unlike Clarke’s modern-day birds,” Davis said. “So I’m species, Clarke and her team determined “Julia was helpful in that narrowing- research, which focused on feathers interested when this basic, fundamental that closed-mouth vocalization evolved down process.” colored by melanin, Davis is branching nutritional thing got co-opted to make at least 16 times in living archosaurs, As her own research findings show, off into a new direction with potentially the really bright and pretty colors.” the group that includes birds, crocodiles Clarke’s advice to pick a supposedly even more avenues to explore. She’s In true Clarke fashion, Davis knows and alligators, and is associated with unanswerable question and then chip studying feather pigments made from she’s on the right track because of the having a relatively large body size. Since away at it with available data has made carotenoids, a class of organic molecules constant questions her work keeps dinosaurs are also part of the archosaur real scientific progress into what were that come strictly from an animal’s diet. uncovering. AN EXAMPLE OF IRIDESCENT group, Clarke and her collaborators once thought of as impossible research They’re responsible for vibrant bird “The more I continue on my current FEATHERS ON A GRACKLE, A LOOK THE MODERN BIRD MAY HAVE suggest that it’s not a stretch to think areas. From melanosomes came a feathers, such as the pink of flamingos project, the more questions I find,”

SHARED WITH MICRORAPTOR. that some of the larger-sized ones — colorful Jurassic world. And from a PENGUIN BONES: JULIA CLARKE. MICRORAPTOR and the red of cardinals, as well as vital Davis said.

82 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 83 Petra Nova

Producing power and trapping CO2 underground

BY ANTON CAPUTO

5 LEFT: PETRA NOVA ABOVE: THE PETRA

5 IS THE WORLD’S NOVA PROJECT

LARGEST POST- IS STORING CO2

COMBUSTION CO2 UNDER THE WEST CAPTURE FACILITY RANCH OIL FIELD, INSTALLED ON AN WHERE IT WILL E X I S T I N G C O A L- HELP ENHANCE OIL FIRED POWER RECOVERY. PLANT.

Deep underneath an old Texas oil field in a technique known as enhanced oil of that side of the project so we can industry, the environment and public which is equivalent to taking more than The resourceful approach earned the Jackson County, science and economics recovery. It is a key aspect to making the actually determine that the captured policy. It’s an area I like to call the 350,000 cars off the road for a year. praise of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

have come together to achieve $1 billion project economically viable CO2 is staying underground and not radical middle — an area where The U.S. Department of Energy has “NRG and JX Nippon’s Petra Nova is something unique. For the first time in by using the profit from the sale of oil to entering the outside environment.” solutions to tough problems are found been encouraging such projects for years the type of innovative, technologically

this country, a commercial-scale project pay for the carbon capture system. The idea of storing CO2 emissions is and things get done.” through a series of programs and grants, advanced project that proves time and

is taking carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) The job of monitoring the CO2 deep not new. The bureau’s Gulf Coast Carbon but no commercial scale project had again that Texas is the world leader in from a coal-fired plant and storing them underground falls to the Bureau of Center has been leading research on the come to fruition in the U.S. before Petra energy innovation,” Abbott said in a in rocks beneath the ground so they Economic Geology, which is working issue for more than a decade, helping Capturing Carbon Nova for a variety of reasons. First and prepared release. cannot escape into the atmosphere and with Texas Coastal Ventures, a perfect the technology in a series of foremost is the costs that carbon capture The enhanced oil recovery at impact the Earth’s climate. partnership of Petra Nova and oil field pilot projects around the country. Given and storage add to power production. West Ranch is expected to boost oil The project — Petra Nova — is operator Hilcorp Energy Co. the bureau’s long history with the Although the project has been in the NRG Energy and partner JX Nippon production from around 500 barrels design phase for many years, Petra removing CO2 from a unit of the W.A. “We really need to have not only the technology and its focus on research that Oil & Gas Exploration were able to make per day to as much as 15,000 barrels Parish power plant near Houston expertise of the UT Bureau of Economic tackles tough problems that combine Nova started operating in December the $1 billion project economically per day, Kennedy said. This technique 2016, taking more than 90 percent of and piping it some 80 miles to Geology, but the independence,” said energy, the environment, and the viable by using the captured CO2 to involves pumping CO2 into the field, the southwest where it is pumped Greg Kennedy, senior project director economy, it was well-positioned to assist the CO2 from 240 megawatts of power increase oil production at the West where it mixes with oil and helps approximately a mile beneath the West of asset management for NRG Energy, a with the ground-breaking project, said production (enough power to serve Ranch field. The project was also the release it from the rock formation so it

Ranch oil field. The greenhouse gas is main partner in the Petra Nova project, bureau Director Scott W. Tinker. about 200,000 homes) and piping it to beneficiary of a $190 million grant from can be pumped to the surface. The CO2 not only being trapped underground and the project’s liaison to the bureau. “Petra Nova is a natural fit for us,” the West Ranch oil field. Petra Nova the Department of Energy’s Clean Coal is removed from the oil above ground at the field, but is also being used “We need the University of Texas for an Tinker said. “The project is at the is capturing more than 5,000 tons of Power Initiative Program, which helped and then injected back into the ground

to improve oil production through independent, high-quality assessment intersection of government, private PHOTOS: NRG ENERGY. CO2 per day, according to NRG Energy, pay for the carbon capture unit. where it is trapped.

84 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 85 makes for a good indicator to identify The equipment Hovorka and her

CO2 that leaked toward the surface team use to track carbon at the oil field from the deep subsurface. employs off-the-shelf technology for the “Stakeholders could be concerned same reason. The goal is to work out any about any one of a number of kinks in the monitoring protocol, so it environmental changes, and without can be used by other companies, a goal these markers it would be hard to say she believes is well within reach. for sure if the change is because of fluid “It’s not super hi-tech, wizbang. It’s from the project or some other shift in regular old equipment and a clever the environment,” she said. inversion,” she said. “Get it cheap, get The Gulf Coast Carbon Center has it practical, and get it ready to hand off. developed these methods through This is a tremendous opportunity.” pilot projects across the country over Ultimately, Tinker said Petra Nova the last decade. The big difference in can act as a model for others interested

Petra Nova, said Hovorka, is the full in reducing CO2 emissions from coal- industrial scale. fired power plants. “It is really exciting to take what you “The combination of carbon capture have been working on in R and D and and sequestration from a coal plant, take it to commercialization,” she said. enhanced oil recovery to provide Petra Nova is unique for now. But the additional energy and offset costs, and

project was designed with replication monitoring and verification of the CO2, in mind, using commercially available is an important step along the path

technology. The carbon capture system towards capturing and storing CO2 at a was jointly developed by Mitsubishi much larger scale,” he said. Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Kansai CO FROM PETRA NOVA WILL BE PIPED TO Electric Power Co. Kennedy said the 2 THE WEST RANCH OIL FIELD WHERE IT WILL

system could be used by any existing or BE USED FOR ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY AND new coal power plant. TRAPPED5 UNDERGROUND.

5 RIGHT TO LEFT: BEG RESEARCHERS At that point it’s up to researchers One of the main issues, Hovorka said, SUSAN HOVORKA, REBECCA SMYTH, DAVID FREEMAN (SANDIA TECHNOLOGIES) from the bureau to monitor the is that pumping CO2 into the ground AND JIEMAN LU AT THE STORAGE SITE CO2 to ensure it stays put. They elevates pressure in the injection zone, are accomplishing this through a which could theoretically lift fluids

combination of techniques that containing dissolved CO2 through dam- monitor deep subsurface pressure, aged or flawed wells toward the surface. The extensive CO monitoring at Petra groundwater, soil gas and other Once out of the ground, the greenhouse 2 Nova is a precaution, Hovorka said. She parameters that provide information gas would escape into the atmosphere. stressed that she does not expect any on the status of the CO2 after it is To ensure this doesn’t occur, Hilcorp leaks to come bubbling from below and stored underground. Energy has inspected each existing well that none have occurred to date. and brought all up to current standards Hovorka said that crews are also so they do not exceed the original monitoring groundwater and soil gas Tracking Carbon natural pressure of the oil field. As for signs of CO2 leakage. To do so, an extra precaution, researchers have scientists are watching parameters that The monitoring project is being led installed pressure gauges in deep wells would change during a spill or leak, more than 3,000 feet below the surface. by Susan Hovorka, a senior research specifically, the ratios of nitrogen, CO2, scientist and principal investigator of These gauges act as an early warning methane, strontium isotopes, carbon the bureau’s Gulf Coast Carbon Center. system for potential CO2 leaks because isotopes, light hydrocarbons and

Hovorka and her colleagues carefully they are above the zone where the CO2 noble gasses. Hovorka described these studied the subsurface environment is injected. Increases in pressure at this parameters as “distinctive markers” under the field for more than a year level would indicate that fluids may be of fluids from deep areas. They have a to understand conditions before the leaking upward, giving the operator different chemical signature than fluids

project began. time to find and repair wells if needed. from shallower areas, a difference that RESEARCHERS: BUREAU OF ECONOMIC BENEFICIAL GEOLOGY. USE: NRG ENERGY.

86 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 87 1 2 3

In 1966, while on geology field camp at Colorado State University, Robbie Gries spotted a boulder as big as a house from the window of the class van as it moved through the White River Plateau. “I think that’s granite over there!” Gries shouted to the other students—all men, save for the journalism-major wife of one at how little I knew,” of her classmates. Women were usually Gries said. banned from the course, but Gries got in Women from UT thanks to a mixture of the chairman being played a notable role in on sabbatical, other faculty being willing, AAPG’s early history — and her offer to cook. She suspects her nearly 15 percent of the classmate’s wife came so she wouldn’t be first 100 female members the lone woman on the three-week course, of AAPG either graduated or and to help with the cooking. studied at some point at UT. Gries’ classmates disputed her granite The Department of Geological claim: “You can’t have granite here! We’ve Sciences also educated female got Pennsylvanian-aged rocks on top, students who made important 4 5 how would granite get on top of that? contributions outside of petroleum That’s such a dumb observation!” But the geology, and provided a space for professor turned the van around. The mentorship, often from male members class ended up learning about glacial of the school who supported female erratic boulders—large hunks of granite students and researchers, and female Women in deposited by ice sheets as they carved the student bonding. landscape during the last ice age. It wasn’t At the same time, the school was also UT Geology the last time Gries’ roadside observations a reflection of larger cultural biases and made the professor do a U-turn. expectations. Women were banned from “I loved field camp because I figured going on undergraduate field camp until BY MONICA KORTSHA out that I really had an eye for geology about the 1950s; the UT chapter of the in the field,” said Gries, who went on to geological honors society, Sigma Gamma From independent oil finders, to earn her Master of Science in geology at Epsilon, excluded women for most of pioneering micropaleontologists, The University of Texas at Austin, and its existence; and a 1960s-era bulletin serve as the first female president of about the department for high school to academic leaders, UT women the American Association of Petroleum and college students could more easily 1. ESTHER RICHARDS IN have been making history since Geologists (AAPG). “Many times on field envision male geologists on other planets THE FIELD NEAR MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI IN 1923. 2. AN the beginning. trips I had experiences like that, and it than women having a significant role in EARLY PHOTO OF A WOMAN IN gave me a lot of confidence.” the field. One paragraph reads: A GEOLOGY CLASS AT UT. 3. A Gries’ story of overcoming gender “A geologist’s activities may take him UT GEOLOGY FOSSIL-HUNTING TRIP, HEDWIG KNIKER IS SECOND barriers like the field-camp ban to find throughout the world. He may climb FROM THE LEFT. PROFESSOR success in the geosciences is one of dozens mountains, wade through swamps, FRANCIS WHITNEY IS MAN ON LEFT. 4. GEOLOGY STUDENT 6 7 8 compiled in “Anomalies: Pioneering descend into deep mines, brave the ANN HAMILTON CIRCA 1920. 5. Women in Petroleum Geology,” a new desert and attack jungles. … He may well GEOLOGY STUDENT DOROTHY book about female AAPG members be the first person to land on another OGDEN CARSEY. HER GRADUATE THESIS, “FORAMINIFERA OF from the past 100 years. Gries wrote the planet.” Women are mentioned later in THE CRETACEOUS OF CENTRAL book and released it at the 2017 AAPG the passage: “A few women are engaged TEXAS,” WAS PUBLISHED IN 1926. A annual meeting in Houston, along with a JACKSON SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP in geological work. … Successful outdoor FUND IS NAMED IN HER HONOR. 6. documentary, and a monumental 60-foot- women field geologists are rare.” AN EARLY PHOTO OF A WOMAN IN A long poster featuring the first 100 female Reading the biographies collected by GEOLOGY CLASS AT UT. 7. IN 1935, THE DEPARTMENT ALLOWED THREE members of AAPG. The roster starts in Gries, combing through UT archives, and WOMEN TO ATTEND FIELD CAMP. 1917, the year the AAPG was founded, listening to the recollections of Jackson LEFT TO RIGHT: MILDRED WINAN, and ends in 1945 — a date much earlier School alumnae and faculty, gives a KATHERINE ARCHER AND MARIE GRAMANN. 8. WOMEN EMPLOYED than Gries expected when she began the nuanced view of the history of women AT EMPIRE OIL CO. IN THE EARLY research in 2013. in geosciences at UT and in geosciences 20TH CENTURY WERE REQUIRED TO LEARN HOW TO DRIVE AND REPAIR “I was just amazed at how deep and research and industry over the past AUTOMOBILES SO THEY COULD rich [the history] was. I was amazed century. It’s far from a simple story. TRAVEL FOR COMPANY BUSINESS.

2017 Newsletter | 89 The Start fathers or husbands — not being able Bureau of Economic Geology. And her to vote in federal elections and often great-great nephew, Wilmer Dallam prevented from working if married — it Masterson IV, earned his graduate was women who wrote the first three degree in geology from UT in 1981 and master’s theses at the department, an now works in the petroleum industry. endeavor rooted in independent research Gries said that when she learned and discovery. Like Whitten, Knicker and about Masterson’s work on well sites, Ellisor were also part of the department’s she was floored. When she began her faculty, each serving as instructors for a career in the oil and gas industry in the few years in the late 1910s. 1970s, companies didn’t allow women But not all UT students aspired to to work on wells. And yet, here was a academia. The 1900s was the “gusher woman from the 1910s, showing up at age” for Texas oil, and Reba Masterson well sites and parlaying her geological — who attended UT from 1908 to 1912 knowledge for some skin in the game. — put her geology education to use as “The history of women being present an independent geologist, showing up at and competent on well sites had new oil wells and offering her geological been completely lost and forgotten,” expertise in exchange for mineral rights. Gries wrote in the introduction of an Her father, Branch Masterson, was the “Anomalies” chapter on well-site work. director of two oil companies as well “A new generation of women had to as an independent investor. She likely ‘fight for’ the right to well sit — for LEFT: HEDWIG KNIKER, A PIONEERING MICROPALEONTOLOGIST AND MEMBER learned the lay of the land from him, but the opportunity to have a complete OF THE JACKSON SCHOOL’S HALL OF after graduating from the University of exploration geologist’s experience and DISTINCTION. MIDDLE: ALVA ELLISOR’S GRADUATION PHOTO IN THE 1915 CACTUS Colorado in 1916, she was in business set of responsibilities.” YEARBOOK. RIGHT: INDEPENDENT for herself. Armed with a .32-caliber The 1970s started to overturn the GEOLOGIST REBA MASTERSON IN 1926 AT AN pistol and her best friend, Eunice Aden, restrictive gender norms that crystallized AAPG MEETING a physical education instructor she met during the post-World War II years. But while studying at UT who often acted before that, there was a flourishing of as a de facto bodyguard, she traveled in women in geology, especially in the area The Department of Geology was department’s sole geology instructor treasure recollections of this trip with her Ford Model T across the South and of micropaleontology. founded in 1888 by Robert T. Hill, an for the next 10 years. “I begged to be the keenest pleasure,” wrote Simonds Midwest scouting out shares in oil and Riding on the heels of the 19th orphan from Tennessee who earned granted the privilege of taking Geology in Whitten’s obituary. “For a number gas leases. According to family legend, amendment in 1920, which granted his Bachelor of Science from Cornell I, as an extra, solely for the love of it.” of years [Whitten] shared with me the she lost one such lease in a poker game women the right to vote, was an era of University before coming to Texas at the While enrolled in school, Whitten responsibilities of this field day and I am with Columbus Marion “Dad” Joiner, collaboration and mentorship by the invitation of the university regents. In became Simonds’ assistant, earning a glad to say we never had an accident.” the famed Texas oilman who discovered women of UT geology — both students an inaugural address to the university’s salary for her work. In 1899 she earned Another important mentor of the East Texas oil field in 1930 (the and alumnae. faculty, he emphasized that the state her Bachelor of Science, the first woman early women in UT geology was best-producing field ever discovered in benefits when both men and women to do so from the department. That was Francis Whitney, the department’s the U.S.). receive an education based on technical, followed a year later by her master’s first paleontology professor and third When she joined the AAPG in cutting-edge knowledge. degree — the first graduate degree chairman. He advised Hedwig Kniker 1923, Masterson’s geology experience In accordance to Hill’s vision, women bestowed by the department. and Alva Ellisor, whose collaborative included conducting reconnaissance were part of these early geology classes. It’s likely that Simonds’ mentorship research on microfossils in the 1920s work in oil fields in Kansas, Illinois, One such student was Harriet “Hattie” and encouragement factored into revolutionized how oil and gas West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana “From my ancestors I inherited a liking — no, I shall Whitten, who enrolled in the university her decision to continue her studies. companies explore for hydrocarbons. and Kentucky, and studying the put it stronger, a love — for the studies of geology in 1896. Although having no experience According to her obituary in the 1959 Kniker, who earned her master’s in structural geology of Oklahoma, in geosciences, she convinced the school edition of the Newsletter, Whitten 1917, was the second student and Louisiana and Texas. According to and geography in all of their different phases.” to allow her to take an introductory taught for one year as an instructor in second woman to earn a graduate degree surviving relatives, Masterson was at geology course because of a deep calling “hard rock subjects” after earning her from the department; Ellisor wrote her Damon Mound Field, a famous Texas she had for the subject. graduate degree, while continuing to thesis, but never received a master’s gusher that kicked off years of oil and Hattie Whitten, 1896 “From my ancestors I inherited a liking assist Simonds in his courses on general degree because, according to a note from gas production in the area, and, by the — no, I shall put it stronger, a love — for geology, mineralogy and petrography. Kniker in the 1960 Newsletter, she never time of her death in 1969, had mineral the studies of geology and geography in She also co-led field trips to Marble met the language requirements needed rights in more than 20 Texas counties all of their different phases,” she wrote in Falls, a group of waterfalls that has since for the degree. and a tungsten mine in Colorado. a letter to her mentor Frederic Simonds, been flooded by a dam. Nevertheless, it’s notable that at a The Masterson legacy lives on at UT. who replaced Hill as chairman of the “All over Texas there can be found boys time in U.S. history when women were Her great niece, Amanda Masterson,

department in 1890 and served as the and girls — men and women now — who largely seen as extensions of their ELLISOR: UT CACTUS YEARBOOK. MASTERSON: AAPG ARCHIVES. PREVIOUS 1: PAGE: PATTY KELLOGG. 2: DGS ARCHIVES. 3: THE DOLPH BRISCOEAMERICAN CENTER DGS 4: HISTORY. ARCHIVE. FOR 5: DGS ARCHIVE. 6: DGS ARCHIVE. KITTY 7: MILLIKEN. 8: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. is an administrative associate at the

90 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 91 ALVA ELLISOR AT WORK IN THE HUMBLE OIL CO. MICROPALEONTOLOGY LAB IN 1946, THE YEAR BEFORE SHE RETIRED

LEFT TO RIGHT: MICROPALEONTOLOGISTS HEDWIG KNIKER, ESTHER RICHARDS AND ALVA ELLISOR IN FRONT OF THE APARTMENT HOUSE THEY SHARED

Foram Revolution

In 1919, E.T. Dumble, a former bureau hired on the following year, after she perfect for stratigraphy; the variety director and then chief geologist of the earned her master’s, to conduct research of types were closely correlated with Rio Bravo Oil Co., wanted to investigate on macrofossils and share her findings different geological strata. And their the connection between macro- with a consortium of four oil companies: microscopic size made them small fossils, such as shells, and Gulf Coast Rio Bravo Oil Co., Humble Oil Co., Gulf enough to avoid the drill bit. When she stratigraphy. So, he called the University Oil Co., and the Texas Co. It didn’t take told her boss Wallace Pratt, Humble’s of California, Berkeley Geology long for two of the companies to hire chief geologist, about her discovery Department looking for a paleontology their own paleontologists. Ellisor went he told her to keep it a secret. But he expert who could spend the summer in to Humble, and Kniker to the Texas Co. couldn’t keep it quiet himself, leaking Houston conducting research. The companies encouraged collaboration the news to Richard’s boss, Dumble. “We haven’t a man; Will a woman do?” between the women. The women took it “When I got home, Esther Richards asked the head of the department. further and moved in together. greeted me with the news of my “I don’t see why a woman couldn’t do it “It was a splendid arrangement,” wrote discovery,” recounted Ellisor in the 1962 TOP: AN OUTING, POSSIBLY TO ENCHANTED better than a man,” responded Dumble. Richards in her journal. “We spent most University of Texas Bulletin. “… Of course, ROCK, FROM THE DEPARTMENT ARCHIVES. The conversation laid the groundwork of our evening talking over the day’s the news of the foraminifera were out.” BOTTOM:A 1922 MEETING OF THE SOUTHWESTERN GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. for a paleontology renaissance in oil and accomplishments and problems.” But it took some work to convince the REBA MASTERSON (MIDDLE ROW, FOURTH gas, led by a close-knit group of three Macrofossils proved difficult to larger scientific community of the value FROM LEFT) IS ONE OF THE SIX WOMEN IN women: Esther Richards, a Berkeley work with; the drill bit would shatter of forams — a creature then considered THE PHOTO. graduate, and Hedwig Kniker and Alva the specimens, making them hard to too simple to display the diversity Ellisor, both graduates of UT. distinguish. Ellisor found that a type of needed to map geologic strata. When Richards arrived in the summer of microfossil — a single-celled protozoan Richards presented a paper authored by

OUTING: DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES ARCHIVES. MEETING: 1964 DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES NEWSLETTER.ELLISOR ROLSHAUSEN MICROSCOPE: KNIKER, AT AND R.D. RICHARDS F.W. WOODS. AND ELLISOR: PATTY KELLOGG. 1919 to work for Dumble, and was called foraminifera, or forams — proved Dumble on forams at a 1921 meeting of

92 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 93 the Geological Society of America, she exemplifies the point. Before the war, was immediately challenged. only one or two women were joining THE COAT OF ARMS OF CHI UPSILON, “I knew that it would take a while to A NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY FOR the organization each year. However, convince people in regard to the value WOMEN IN GEOLOGY ACTIVE IN THE between 1939 and 1945 — the war and usefulness of our work,” wrote MID-20TH CENTURY. years — 50 women joined the AAPG. Richards in her journal. “So, I wasn’t After the war, only 14 of them remained too surprised when Prof. Galloway in the industry. [of Columbia] got up just after I had Female enrollment in the Department finished and said, ‘Gentlemen, here is To a Geologist: of Geological Sciences faced similar this chit of a girl right out of college, issues. From 1943–1973, woman earned telling us that we can use Foraminifera Alone, you sit beside the little stream, only 3 percent of master’s degrees. to determine the age of formation. Kitty Milliken, a senior research Gentleman, you know it can’t be done.” The highway thronged with traffic, the airplane scientist at the bureau, conducted Four years later, Ellisor, Richards and research on the history of women in Kniker let their research do the talking. Roaring above, cannot disturb your dream, the geoscience department while she The three women co-authored a seminal Nor yet the gathered clouds which threaten rain, herself was a postdoctoral researcher paper in the 1925 AAPG bulletin titled in the department in the 1990s. She “Subsurface Stratigraphy of the Coastal Lost in a prehistoric mist, you sit, found that the participation of women Plain of Texas And Louisiana” that used in the department had an early peak forams to unravel the region’s geology. Forgetting everything entirely in the 1920s through 1940s, when Their early work turned forams into Because in the gray rock your pick has split, micropaleontology became imperative to the gold standard for stratigraphic oil companies, and then faced a 30-year correlation, a position the tiny fossils You found a creature of an ancient sea. lull after WWII before beginning to rise maintained for decades until the again in the mid-1970s. invention of geophysical well logging Warm waters flow around you, overhead “It made me realize that what and seismic reflection surveys. Strange armored fishes swim with pulsing fin; seemed normal to us — to not have Throughout their lives, the three many women in the program — was women continued to make important not normal,” Milliken said about her ANNY BUCHSTAB COURY (B.S. 1949) ON AN OFFSHORE PLATFORM WITH COLLEAGUES FROM Weird cephelopods [sic] crawl slowly past your head, contributions in micropaleontology. WESTERN NATURAL GAS. SHE WAS OVERSEEING HER FIRST OFFSHORE DISCOVERY WELL. research, which was published in the Ellisor stayed at Humble her entire Creatures of some far away age which long has been. Journal of Geological Education in 1995. career, growing the lab’s personnel You have gone backward from this age of men, “It was the result of this big disruption.” and prominence; Kniker started a There were many reasons why consulting business and then founded a Women on Campus standing and “interest in geology as a And you are an invertebrate again. women left the workforce or didn’t micropaleontology lab in Punta Arenas, science, as a work, and as a pleasure.” enroll in higher education after WWII. Chile, for what would become the Back at the University of Texas, women UT was one of four chapters active Post-war attitudes on working women country’s national oil company. She was were a growing part of the student during the pre-WWII years, with Rock and Hamilton Pool. However, it war, while women supported the effort and an expectation that women would later inducted into the Jackson School body. From 1928–1942, women earned the others being at the University of couldn’t help with larger institutional by taking jobs the men left vacant or give up their jobs to men limited career of Geosciences Hall of Distinction in 13 percent of master’s degrees, and one Oklahoma, Cornell University and barriers at UT banning women from by joining the military. Esther Applin opportunities, while the domestic 2008 for her research and philanthropic of the five doctoral degrees awarded the George Washington University. A field camp. Until the 1950s, women (formerly Richards) commuted from “ideal woman” found on TV shows and accomplishments, which include buying during these years. Marion Isabelle society newspaper kept the chapters were not allowed on the weeks-long Fort Worth to teach geology classes at advertisements became a figure that 39 of the 56 bells in the UT Tower’s Whitney, the daughter of Professor informed on each other’s happenings, field geology course, save for one year UT when several professors went to many actual women sought to embody. Kniker Carillon; Richards set up a Francis Whitney, earned the doctoral and included original contributions in the mid-1930s when undergraduate war. Julia Gardner was a geologist who Gries herself said she looked up to June consulting business, had a short stint degree in 1937, the first woman to earn from members. The first issue, released student Marie Gramann “raised a mapped tertiary beds from Maryland Cleaver, the suburban mom on the as an instructor at the UT Department her Ph.D. from the department. in 1941, is marked with the society’s ruckus,” in Gries’ words, so she could to Mexico, was a key mapmaker for 1960s TV show “Leave it to Beaver.” of Geology, and worked for the U.S. At the undergraduate level, women coat of arms — two monkeys atop a earn her Bachelor of Science — a degree bureau on the first geologic map of “I thought, ‘If I’m like June Cleaver, Geological Survey. had enrolled in the department in shield marked with a moon and stars, that required field camp. The department Texas, and performed biostratigraphic then what goes with that is this perfect Both Ellisor and Kniker never sufficient numbers by 1926 to revive a crossed rock hammers, a trilobite, allowed her and two other female work for dozens of oil companies in life,’” Gries said. “It meant so much to married and retained their AAPG UT chapter of Chi Upsilon, a national and a mineral — and prefaced by a geology students, Mildred Winans and the 1920s and ’30s. During WWII she me for people to say, ‘You’re such a good memberships throughout their lives. honor society for women studying poem, written by Beatrice Raw, a Katherine Archer, to attend. It then joined the U.S. Military Geology Unit cook, this is so creative.’ And I love the However, Richards’ membership was geology. Records stored at the Dolph member of the George Washington swiftly reinstated its ban on women. and identified beaches in Japan where day I woke up and said, ‘I don’t think I brief. It ended when she married Paul Briscoe Center for American History University chapter, that captures the balloon-borne bombs were coming from need this anymore.’” Applin, a fellow geologist who retained indicate that the UT chapter had also transformative experience of pondering Post-War Years by analyzing fossilized shells in the Women who did decide to pursue his membership. It was common been active in 1921, and counted deep time (poem on right). sand used to stabilize the devices. education or a career had to overcome or practice for the memberships of women both Alva Ellisor and Esther Richards Chi Upsilon provided a chance for World War II decreased enrollment in the But once the war ended, many women tolerate these expectations and biases, to end upon marriage, especially if they as honorary members. Membership women to get out into the field, with department for both men and women. had to give up their positions. and often go along with them to advance

weren’t working full-time. required being in good academic records showing trips to Enchanted BUCHSTAB CHI COURY: UPSILON: COURY DOLPH FAMILY. BRISCOE CENTER FOR AMERICAN HISTORY. College-aged men were off fighting the The AAPG membership file their careers. For example, after earning

94 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 95 in oil and gas companies. Once hired, included and accepted by their peers the 1920s, is GLOW, the Geoscience women started to push from the inside and advisors. Dickerson, who earned Leadership Organization for Women. to open up the industry further. In her Ph.D. in 1995, worked alongside The group provides mentorship and “Anomalies,” there are multiple accounts Muehlberger, her advisor, training support for women in the Jackson of women challenging company policies astronauts, including John Glenn, on School of Geosciences, said President that banned them from going on geological formations that could be Caroline Nazworth, as well as outreach offshore rigs, in underground mines, and documented and studied from orbit. to students of all ages. on well-sites — places where some men Owen recounts how Chris Bell, a As part of her job at the Texas considered women “unlucky” — and professor in the department, sought Memorial Museum, Owen also pushed against male-only petroleum her out to co-author a paper on a rare frequently participates in geosciences social clubs and dining suites. fossilized black-footed ferret skull. outreach in classrooms. She said that Around this time enrollment of “That was the first time that I really felt simply letting kids know that she women in graduate studies in the that I got excellent mentorship researching herself is a scientist can make a big geology started to rebound. From and writing a professional scientific impact, recalling how one first grade 1974–1993, women earned 27 percent paper,” Owen said. “He was instrumental class said, “She’s a mom!” the moment of master’s degrees and 8 percent in helping me to develop those skills.” she walked into their classroom with a of Ph.D.s bestowed by the geology trunk full of fossils. department, up significantly from the Women Today “I think that was their way of post-war years. expressing, ‘That is not who we It was during this revival that current The role and prominence of women in expected as the scientist,’ and they were Jackson School Dean Sharon Mosher the Department of Geological Sciences just thrilled,” Owen said. “And it just joined the faculty of the Department of — and the Jackson School as a whole — thrilled me because I totally smashed Geological Sciences, the only woman have only continued to grow. As of fall any preconceived notions of who was faculty member at the time, accepting 2016, woman made up 42 percent of coming to talk to them.” a position as an assistant professor in undergraduate students and 39 percent Gries’ “Anomalies” serves a similar 1978. Within weeks, she was leading of graduate students. The school is led outreach function. The collection of field camp and by the first semester by a female dean and women are part stories — many written by individual

SUSAN CAGE IN GULF OIL’S HOUSTON OFFICE IN THE 1980S she was advising four graduate of the faculty and research staff at all women themselves — gives women a students, and frequently leading field levels of seniority. And in spring 2017 voice to tell their stories, and provides trips to nearby sites. She remembers the school’s advisory council, a group of an array of role models that women a faculty luncheon where the late industry and academic leaders, elected didn’t know they had. Most importantly, her bachelor’s in geology in 1950, UT the civil rights and women’s liberation Bill Muehlberger, a professor in the its first female chair, Annell Bay, a it shows that women — though not alumna Susan Cage started off her career movements of the 1960s and early department, asked her about a fieldtrip department alumna whose own story is always acknowledged or appreciated — as a file clerk at Gulf Oil, and after three 1970s were working for equitable she just led. part of “Anomalies.” Bay begins her term were always part of the story. years of working, was promoted to a treatment of minorities on a larger “The students say you found isoclinal in fall 2017. “There are no excuses anymore to not geologist. In contrast, when her husband scale. And in 1972, when affirmative folds in the Llano uplift,” Muehlberger Following in the footsteps of Chi know,” Gries said. was hired by the same company two action legislation passed, it impacted said to her. Upsilon, the women’s honor society of years later, he immediately started as the lives of individual women across The room went quiet. Prevailing a geologist with a salary 60 percent the U.S, including Cage. When she wisdom was that the Llano uplift was KITTY MILLIKEN, A SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST AT THE BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY DRILLING NANKAI MUD ON THE CHIKYU, THE DEEP SEA SCIENTIFIC DRILLING VESSEL, WITH ARITO SAKAGUCH. higher than her own. retired in 1983, the value of her pension TOP: ROBBIE GRIES (THEN RICE) IN 1966 essentially undeformed with only open Cage said that, although not judged was adjusted so that it was equal to DURING FIELD CAMP AT COLORADO STATE upright folds. After describing what on the same standard as her male men with the same experience and UNIVERSITY. BOTTOM: GRIES AND HER she had found, Muehlberger exclaimed, DAUGHTER IN THE FIELD IN THE SAN JUAN SAG colleagues, she was able to advance contributions to the company. IN SOUTHERN COLORADO. “Well, damn, if she can’t teach us (eventually holding a managerial “Sometimes you can change things something, we shouldn’t have hired her!” position) because her geology skills from within, not fighting the system, Mosher became the first tenured spoke for themselves. just going after your own goals and female professor in the department in “When you do a good job of it, achievements,” Gries said. “But I sure 1990, chair of the department in 2007, people are aware of it and that makes a appreciate the women who made an and has been serving the school as dean difference,” Cage said. “They liked you, effort to change things for everyone.” Anomalies: Pioneering Women since 2009. respected you, and that was it.” in Petroleum Geology is Around the time that Mosher However, she mentioned that received tenure, in the early 1990s, Pat Reclaiming Spaces available for purchase on whenever she joined a new office, she Dickerson, a Jackson School visiting had to start the process of proving The diversity requirements legislated by Amazon.com. For a copy signed research fellow, and Pamela Owen, the herself all over again. affirmative action, combined with the by Robbie Gries, please email associate director of the Texas Memorial While women were working to oil shortages of the early ’70s, created [email protected]. Museum, were Ph.D. students at the

advance their own careers, activists in high demand for women geoscientists CAGE: SUSAN CAGE. GRIES PHOTOS: ROBBIE GRIES. MILLIKEN: AAPG EXPLORER. school. They both note that they felt

96 | Jackson School of Geosciences Chicxulub Revealed

Rocks record what happened to the Earth the day the dinosaurs died.

BY MONICA KORTSHA

Deep beneath layers of limestone on the Yucatán Peninsula and continental shelf is Chicxulub — the best preserved large impact crater on Earth. It was created by an asteroid that slammed into the planet 66 million years ago and wiped out 75 percent of life on Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs. In May 2016, the Jackson School of Geosciences helped lead International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364, to drill into the peak ring of the Chicxulub Crater to learn more about how the Earth responded to that catastrophic impact. Co-led by University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Research Professor Sean Gulick, the mission pulled more than 800 meters of core from the depths of the seafloor. But sheathed in plastic casing and stored in a tightly packed, refrigerated shipping container, the cores couldn’t be closely examined aboard the lift-boat where they were pulled from the sea. That changed in fall 2016 when the IODP Chicxulub research team converged in Bremen, Germany. They conducted intensive analysis on the core samples using high-resolution photos and CT-scans that revealed the position of mineral grains and fractures throughout the cores. The rocks themselves contain the truth about the impact and the recovery that followed. Each section has a story to tell. The science will go on for years, but you can turn the page and see what some of the cores tell us about the day the dinosaurs died.

AN ARTIST’S RENDERING OF THE CHICXULUB ASTEROID STRIKING THE ILLUSTRATION: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY. CHICXULUB CRATER: JACKSON SCHOOL/GOOGLE MAPS. EARTH. THE ASTEROID WIPED OUT 75 PERCENT OF LIFE ON THE PLANET.

98 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 99 TSUNAMI DEPOSIT A major result of the Chicxulub impact was a monstrous tsunami that reached up to modern day Illinois. When the water rushed back into the crater it brought untold core 40-1 amounts of impact debris with it. This core shows debris from the tsunami (lighter

TOP OF CORE CORE OF TOP COMPOSITION in the picture and darker in the CT-scan), including cross-bedding from the tsunami SAMPLE Tsunami layer: sand- waves, and the transition to settled particles on the seafloor. Note the white particles sized impact debris and of melt rock flecking the tsunami in the CT-scan. The material in the settling layer glass. Settling layer: silt- includes the particles and surviving plankton that filtered down from the water sized particles including column. The debris and glass from the tsunami were deposited the first day after the surviving plankton. asteroid hit, but scientists are still unclear on how long it took the debris in the settling layer to filter down. Theories range from a matter of weeks to tens of thousands of RECOVERY DEPTH years. It is a hot topic of current research. 618–619 meters

END OF The Chicxulub asteroid impact marks the end of the Cretaceous Period and the AN AGE beginning of the Paleogene Period. When the asteroid hit, shallower rocks were TOP OF CORE CORE OF TOP

SAMPLE core 76-1 vaporized or shattered. A small amount of that rock was left behind in a layer of shattered suevite depicted in this core. These include chunks of pulverized sandstone, COMPOSITION limestone and granite that are now mixed and jumbled together. Most of the chunks Suevite breccia are angular, which means that they were deposited very rapidly after the impact — probably within minutes — and therefore didn’t have time to roll around and soften RECOVERY DEPTH their edges. 703–704 meters

UNDER PRESSURE The Chicxulub impact generated 9.6 million PSI of pressure — a force roughly

TOP OF CORE CORE OF TOP equivalent to 10 billion of the atomic bombs detonated on Hiroshima in World War SAMPLE core 92-2 II. The immense pressure and heat melted the underlying granite and some of the COMPOSITION overlying limestone (the rest was vaporized), creating swirls of black silica-rich melt Impact melt rock rock and green carbonate melt rock in a pattern known as a schlieren texture. Roughly 10 to 15 meters of melt rock is found capping the peak ring where the scientists RECOVERY DEPTH drilled. A sheet of melt rock almost 2 miles thick is at the center of the crater. 738–739 meters

NOTE: THE IMAGES ARE PARTIAL SECTIONS PEAK RING When the Chicxulub asteroid hit, the Earth rebounded, bringing pink granite from OF CORE. CT-SCANS TOP OF CORE CORE OF TOP core 197-2 6 miles below the surface. The force of the impact made the surrounding rock

ARE ON THE TOP AND SAMPLE PHOTOS ARE ON THE temporarily behave like a slow-moving liquid, with deep granite rocks moving BOTTOM. THE LIGHTER COMPOSITION upwards and collapsing outwards to form a ring of peaks surrounding the center of the COLORS IN THE CT Granite SCANS DEPICT DENSER crater. The dark color of the fault zone in the CT-scan shows that the zone was porous AREAS, THE DARKER and likely a pathway for fluids. The porosity makes it an intriguing place for scientists RECOVERY DEPTH COLORS DEPICT LESS- to look for the recovery of life in the form of microbes in the peak ring. DENSE AREAS. 1018-1019 meters

100 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 101 DONORS fond remembrance of Katherine In Recognition of Donors G. “Katie” Jackson, beloved wife of the late John A. Jackson. Katie was we are grateful to our donors, whether it is their first or a great philanthropist and Jack’s Honoring a Mentor 100th time giving to the jackson school of geosciences (jsg). partner in all things, including the we would like to recognize all donors who have designated creation and naming of the Jackson Blended gift pays off now and later jsg in their estate plans, donors who are members of our School of Geosciences.

BY GEORGIA SANDERS giving societies, and annual donors for their long-standing Anonymous faithful contributions. thank you for your continued David Arctur Jan & Tom* Barrow support to assure the jsg provides a superior education Vada & Walt Boyle to budding geoscientists and continues to lead the way in Barbara & Philip Braithwaite Louise* & Decker Dawson transformative research. Karen & Ed Duncan Jacque & David S. “Scotty”* Holland, Sr. Kathleen Howard Rita & Jimmie Russell Texas Leadership Society Ken Neavel Kevin Tuerff The Texas Leadership Society is Edith & Peter O’Donnell Anita & Charles* Weiner Rita & Jimmie Russell composed of a distinguished group of Kathy & Steve Weiner Dick Stoneburner friends and alumni who have included Raymond Woods* Elizabeth & Joe* Walter Ken Neavel’s attraction to geology volunteers regularly in public 5th historically underrepresented groups, John Wright* The University of Texas at Austin in their Cathy & Chuck Williamson started at an early age. Growing up grade classrooms, teaching earth and which is a primary goal of the Jackson Edith & Bob Zinn as the son of one of ExxonMobil’s planetary sciences to students who School’s outreach efforts. estate plans. Estate gifts support faculty preeminent coal scientists, he knew might not otherwise be exposed to A geosciences education changed and research, provide scholarships L.T. Barrow Founders Circle that a degree in geoscience could lead to these subjects. He has developed a Neavel’s life. He hopes that the Sharon Flawn Circle of Excellence and graduate fellowships, and keep The L.T. Barrow Founders Circle an intriguing career. Additionally, Boy curriculum for his volunteer efforts Mosher Scholarship Fund — as well The Flawn Circle of Excellence recognizes libraries, laboratories and facilities up recognizes friends and alumni who have Scout adventures to Big Bend National which he plans to employ through a as the scholarships that he established individuals who have given cumulative Park fostered dreams of a career in the nonprofit organization to help provide at the University of Kentucky and to date. We would like to recognize those given cumulative gifts of $100,000 gifts of $1 million or more. Established Purdue University, where he earned outdoors, specifically, in the mountains. advanced earth and planetary sciences members who have designated the and above. Named after Leonidas T. These dreams were, in part, fulfilled. to public schools. his master’s and doctoral degrees, in 2014, this society is named after Jackson School as their beneficiary. and Laura T. Barrow, creators of the Now, he is helping provide others the “There is no greater feeling than respectively — will help students Peter T. Flawn, former president of The opportunity to follow their passion by seeing a young person getting excited realize their full potential, and first Geology Foundation endowment Anonymous University of Texas at Austin, professor establishing an annual scholarship at about earth and planetary sciences,” experience the transformative power of in 1953, Barrow Founders Circle David Arctur emeritus at the Jackson School of the Jackson School of Geosciences to Neavel said. a geosciences education and the career Vada & Walt Boyle members honor the legacy of these two help support undergraduate students as Neavel said that he felt it was a paths that it paves. Geosciences and lifetime member of the Barbara & Philip Braithwaite guiding spirits of geoscience education they begin their college education. particularly important time for him “I am humbled and honored by Ken’s Geology Foundation Advisory Council. Ina* & Jesse* Brundrett Neavel named the scholarship in to support the Jackson School because decision to establish a scholarship in my at The University of Texas at Austin. Susan Cage honor of his friend and mentor, Dean state funding is steadily declining, name,” said Dean Sharon Mosher. “His Anonymous L. Decker Dawson Sharon Mosher. He began his geological prompting universities to rely more and generous gift will play a direct role in Jan & Tom* Barrow Anonymous Julia & Tim Diggs studies at UT in 1978 — the same year more on private funding. He said that it educating the geoscientists of the future. Vada & Walt Boyle David Arctur Karen & Ed Duncan that Mosher joined UT’s Department just made sense to name the scholarship Nothing could be more important. I am Barbara & Philip Braithwaite James Austin, Jr. Connie & Byron Dyer of Geological Sciences as an assistant after someone who has influenced thankful for Ken’s support.” Louise* & Decker Dawson Jan & Tom* Barrow Fred Gibson professor. Mosher taught structural his life and the lives of so many other To contribute to the Sharon Karen & Ed Duncan Carolyn & John Bookout Bill Gipson geology to Neavel and soon after hired students. He welcomes others who Mosher Scholarship Fund or for more Jacque & David S. “Scotty”* Holland, Sr. Patricia Boyd Hugh Hay-Roe him as a student assistant. She later have been influenced by Dean Mosher’s information about how to recognize a Edith & Peter O’Donnell Vada & Walt Boyle Charlene & Dean Henney made a critical introduction to Professor teaching and leadership to contribute mentor or friend with a blended fund or Rita & Jimmie Russell Barbara & Philip Braithwaite Kathleen Howard Nicholas Rast at the University of to this fund that will support young estate gift, please contact Belle German, Dick Stoneburner Ina* & Jessie* Brundrett Caroline Rose Hunt Kentucky, who Neavel studied under geoscientists. In addition to establishing Executive Director for Development and Elizabeth & Joe* Walter Jimmye & Ray Burke while achieving his master’s degree. the annual scholarship, Neavel provided Alumni Relations at 512-471-1993 or Katie* & Jack* Jackson Susan Cage “Without the encouragement of Dean a very generous planned gift in his [email protected]. William Klett Carlotta Chernoff Mosher and the experiences that I had estate to continue supporting the Marietta* & Wann* Langston Katie Society Betsy & Richard Chuchla working with her as a student, I am not scholarship fund in perpetuity. Sandra Lindquist The Katie Society recognizes John Clinch sure where my path may have taken The scholarship prioritizes freshmen Robert E. Mace Billy Cotner individuals who have given me,” Neavel said. and sophomores in good academic Ken Neavel Pam & Barnes Darwin KEN NEAVEL IS RECOGNIZED BY DEAN cumulative gifts of $500,000 or Neavel is an independent geoscientist standing who are first-generation SHARON MOSHER AS A NEW MEMBER OF THE Cheryl & Woody Pace Louise* & Decker Dawson in the oil and gas industry. He college students or those from KATIE SOCIETY. Terry & Elliott Pew more. It was established in 2014 in Caroline & Tim* Denison

102 | Jackson School of Geosciences * Deceased 2017 Newsletter | 103 Mary Anne & Bill Dingus Hill Society John Clinch Jacque & David S. “Scotty”* Holland, Sr. Susan & Jerry Namy Evelyn* & John* Tuohy Sally & Ralph Duchin Peg & Mitch Cline Debbie & Ben Hooper Ken Neavel Margie & Andy Udden The Hill Society honors friends and Karen & Ed Duncan Carolyn & Steve Compton Sandra & Richard Hoover Carol & Ed Nelson Glenn* & Martha* Vargas Connie & Byron Dyer alumni who have given $10,000 or Diann & Frank Cornish Karen Hamilton Huber Mark Nibbelink Janice & Mark Ver Hoeve Carol & Jim Farnsworth more over their lifetime in support Billy Cotner Terry Huffington & Ralph Dittman Jim Nienaber Zoe & Harry Vest Judy & Jim Gibbs of the Jackson School. This society Carol & Weyman Crawford Katherine & Gary Hummel Edith & Peter O’Donnell Allison & Bryan Wagner Leslie & Earl Wahrmund Bill Gipson is named after Robert T. Hill, the Trammell Crow Caroline Rose Hunt Frances* & Fred Oliver Cala Ferrand & Albert Haertlein Pamela & Barnes Darwin Mary Johns & Eric Beam Cynthia & Judd* Oualline Suzanne & Virgil* Walston first professor and chair of the Ann & Henry Hamman Louise* & Decker Dawson Brenda & Jonny Jones Cheryl & Woody Pace Elizabeth & Joe* Walter Lisa & Erik Hanson Department of Geology and a Henry Dean Elizabeth Walter Keeney Jeffrey Palmer Paula & Rusty Walter Grace & Hugh Hay-Roe founding member of the UT Mineral Marion Wier DeFord Ada & Howard Kiatta Ana & James Pape Debbie & John Watson Anita & Charles* Weiner Charlene & Dena Henney Survey, which would later become the Charles DeLancey Bill Klett Marjorie* & Jim Patterson Melinda & Jeff Hildebrand Bill DeMis & Mary Nelis Christa & Glenn Klimchuk Don Paul Kathy & Steve Weiner Bureau of Economic Geology. Jacque & David S. “Scotty”* Holland, Sr. Caroline & Tim* Denison Dianne & Ken Kramer Madrienne Petitjean Bonnie Weise Kathleen Howard Pat Dickerson Virginia & George Laguros Eleanor & Scott Petty Dianne & Les White Anonymous Caroline Rose Hunt Mary Anne & Bill Dingus Lynton & Judy Land Terry & Elliott Pew Sheri & Jamie White Doris Allday Rosa & Tom Layman Sally & Ralph Duchin Karen Langston Mary Anne & Bob Pickens Mike Wiley* Ellen & Gene Ames Richard Leach Anne & Charles Duncan Marietta* & Wann* Langston Elizabeth & Greg Pipkin Mary & Addison* Wilkinson Debbie & Jim Anderson Judy & Frank Lee Karen & Ed Duncan Sandra Langston Carol & Jerry Pitts Cathy & Chuck Williamson David Arctur Patsy & David Lehman Connie & Byron Dyer Rosa & Tom Layman Nancy & David Pustka Carol & Chris Wilson James Austin, Jr. Sandra Lindquist Katherine Ellins Richard Leach Stacey & Andrew Quarles Heather Wilson & John Echols Carol & Rod Baker Susi & Mike Looney Karen & Paul Erickson David Lear Janet & David Rainey Mary Lou & Mark* Wilson Dan Barker* Judy & Ernie Lundelius Anne* & Tom Fanning Judy & Frank Lee Louise Reeser Ruth & John* Wilson Louise Barnes Alicia & David Martineau Carol & Jim Farnsworth Patsy & David Lehman Coleen & Peter Regan Vereen & Madison Woodward Linda & Virgil Barnes Sara & David Martineau Cala Ferrand & Albert Haertlein Walter Light, Jr. Cambria & Brian Reinsborough John Wright Donna & Ken Barrow Marian Maxwell Marilee & Bill Fisher Sandra Lindquist Moonyean & William* Reynolds Mary Anne & Phillip* Wyche Jan & Tom* Barrow Susan & Jack Mayfield Priscilla* & Peter* Flawn Nancy & Allen Locklin Diana & Kenneth Ritmire Cindy Ybarra Kim Bates Joy & Jerry McQueen Cherie & James Flores Mary & Leon Long Katherine & Jeffrey Roberts Pinar Yilmaz Annell Bay & Robert Suchecki Brian Flynn Edith & Bob Zinn Susan & Jerry Namy Dunya Bean Mark Longman Marsha & Gregg Robertson Ken Neavel Reggie Beasley Jeanine & Ray Foutch Susi & Mike Looney Mary & Hugh Rose Edith & Peter O’Donnell Teresa & Fred Becker Beatrice & Jesse Fowler Lillian & Howard Lowe Tim Rowe Annual Donors 2016–2017 Cynthia Oualline Jim Frasher Ann & Rolf Lundelius Rita & Jimmie Russell Mary Poteet & Chris Bell We honor the following individuals Cheryl & Woody Pace Tiffany & Raul Benavidez Jean & Larry Funkhouser Judy & Ernie Lundelius Lynn Salvador who have generously contributed to Jim Patterson Earl Bescher* Julie Garvin Linda & Mike Maler Maryjane & Bud Scherr Madrienne Petitjean Caroline & John Bookout, Jr. Allison & Bruce Gates Charles Mankin* Nancy & Don Sheffield the Jackson School of Geosciences Eleanour & Scott Petty Rebecca & Jean Paul Gestel Ada Marshall* Janet & David Shomette Ann & John Bookout, III (JSG) during the 2016–2017 fiscal Carol & Jerry Pitts Judy & Jim Gibbs Mary & Sabin Marshall Sandra Sigman Judith & Douglas* Bostwick year. Annual contributions are Janet & Dave Rainey Patricia Boyd Fred Gibson Jackie Martin Russell Slayback critical to JSG. As a result of annual Marsha & Gregg Robertson Vada & Walt Boyle Paula & Gerry Gilbert Alicia & David T. Martineau Joann & Dan Smith Rita & Jimmie Russell Barbara & Philip Braithwaite Allen Gilmer & Riki Rushing Sara & David F. Martineau Brian Smyth & Rebecca Marvil contributions, students participated in Maryjane & Bud Scherr Marcelite & David Bristol Bill Gipson Marian Maxwell Shirley & Bob Steer field experiences, faculty conducted Nancy & Don Sheffield Ann & Doug Brown Rusty Goetz Melissa & Steven May Fifi & Bill* Stokes, Jr. research, students received Sandra Sigman Ina* & Jessie* Brundrett Liz Gordon Susan & Jack Mayfield Dick Stoneburner Russell Slayback Thais Freda Bullard* Nora & Charles Gray Earle McBride Celika Storm scholarships and the lights were Fifi Stokes Jimmye & Ray Burke Marianne & Will Green Janet & Michael McCall Evan Strickland turned on. Dick Stoneburner Tom Burke Claire & Joseph Greenberg Kathleen & Barry McConachie Juanita & Michael Strickler Dorothy Sumner Denise Butler Lynn & Jeremy Greene Joy & Jerry McQueen Donna & Paul Strunk Pat Abbott Julia Trimble & Tim Diggs Robert Bybee* Robbie Gries Jane & Robert Middleton Dorothy Sumner Missy & Richard Allen Allison & Bryan Wagner Sarah Bybee Cheryl* & Paul Gucwa Marion & Harry* Miller Mark Swann Debra & James Anderson Elizabeth & Joe* Walter Susan Cage Jo Ann & Karl Hagemeier Martha & Herbert Mills Cheri & Thomas Tanton Jo & Raymond Anderson Anita & Charles* Weiner Corinne & Toby* Carleton Ann & Henry Hamman Steven Mills Elizabeth Thompson Sara Avant Kathy & Steve Weiner Susan & Bill Carlson Lisa & Erik Hanson Lauree & Jim Bob Moffett Sherry & Gary Thompson Deliece & Walter Ayers Mike Wiley* Penni* & Chuck Caughey Linette & George Harwell Ann & Ian Molineux Allyson & Scott Tinker Carol & Rodney Baker Mark Wilkinson Emma & Edward Cazier Grace & Hugh Hay-Roe William & Deborah Monroe Julia Trimle & Tim Diggs Jay Banner Cathy & Chuck Williamson Donna & Michael Cervantes Charlene & Dean Henney Stephanie Moore & Tim Shin Debra Sue & Brian Trinque Donna & Ken Barrow Pinar Yilmaz Carlotta Chernoff Juli & Peter Hennings Ione & Sidney Moran Dennis Trombatore Vladimir Bashkardin Edith & Bob Zinn Betsy & Richard Chuchla Melinda & Jeff Hildebrand Nancy & Roy* Muehlberger James Truchard Annell Bay & Robert Suchecki Sally & Craig Clayton Carolyn & Bill Holland Sally* & Bill* Muehlberger Kevin Tuerff Reggie Beasley

104 | Jackson School of Geosciences * Deceased 2017 Newsletter | 105 Teresa & Fred Becker Susie Doenges & Randolph Russell Redge Greenberg Diane & Kenneth Kramer Frank Morgan Adrienne & Les Ruthven Jerome Bellian Ruth & Hugh Doney Vicky & Peter Gregg Ellen & Charlie Kreitler Alison Mote Richard Sams Tiffany & Raul Benavidez Jennifer & Gary Donnan Sarah & David Grimes Margaret Kroehler Marianne Mulrey & John Lacy Jason Sanford Mark Berlinger Merla & Gene Doty Barbara & Chip Groat Chandan Kumar Lyndon Murray Dustin Schroeder Don Bilbrey James Doyle Paulette & Thomas Groves Adam Lambert MaryLynn Musgrove Janet & Ted Schulenberg Rosanne & Tom Bjorklund Sally & Ralph Duchin Gregory Grubbs Judith Land & Lynton Lang Susan & Jerry Namy Judy Schulz Samuel Boyar Alan Dulaney Frederic Guerra Linda & Robert Laudon Ken Neavel Skylar Schulz Elizabeth & Robert Boyce Lisa & Kent Duran Patrick Gustie Jeff Lawton Naresh Neupane Stephanie Scollard Bethany Boyd Connie & Byron Dyer Rosamond Haertlein Rosie & Tom Layman Diane & John Newberry John Seale Patricia Boyd Gerald Ebanks James Halbouty Richard Leach Janet Nilsson & Arthur Busbey Paula & Clyde Seewald Vada & Walt Boyle Mary & James Eberhardt Danna & Bryan Hale Riley Leader Victor Nkamany Robin Shaver Cynthia Bradford Heather & John Echols Ann & Henry Hamman Patricia & David Lehman Josh Oden Patricia & Carlton Sheffield Carol Brady Louisa Eclarinal Alison Hansen & Matthias Granberry Ann & Scott Leist Lauren & Christopher Oefinger Isabel & David Shetler Barbara & Philip Braithwaite Barbara Edwards Rick Harding Shannon Leonhardt Yomi Olufowoshe Mary & Theodore Shrader Susan Brand & Harry Mueller Francisco Elias Jennifer & Matthew Harold Chris Lerch Saran & Rick Paige Sandra Sigman Syble & Thomas Bridge Laurence Ellis Karen & David Harris Erick Leuro Dena Palermo John Singleton Marcelite & David Bristol Kristin Elowe Colleen & Chris Hart Phillip Levasseur Robin & Jeff Palmer Christine Skirius Charlotte Bryant Tarek Elshayeb Zhengwang He Walter Light Petro Papazis Russ Slayback Mildred & Leonard Bryant Eunice & Carlton Erickson Lisa Helper Frances & James Liles Ana & James Pape Andrew Smith Frances & Wade Burke John Everett Curry Hendricks Adrien Lindley Michael Passarello Brian Smith Jimmye & Ray Burke Tom Fanning Richard Hendricks Nancy Lister Dorothy Paterson Craig Smith Sarah & Ernest Butler Irma & James Feibelman Charlene & Dean Henney Nancy & Allen Locklin Donna & Ben Patterson Gary Smith Benjamin Byerly Sarah & Steve Fekete Julie & Franz Hiebert Susan & Ken Longacre JoAnn & Tom Patty Gordon Smith Leon Byerley Michelle Ferley Sam Hiebert Mark Longman Eleanor & Scott Petty Kim & Alex Smith Susan Cage Cala Ferrand & Albert Haertlein David Hill Cecilia Lopez-Gamundi Terry & Elliott Pew Paul Smith Dean Callender Megan Ferre Stephen Hodgkins Mike Loudin Deb & Ronnie Pfeiffer Sanjay Sood Susan & Bill Carlson Joseph Fiduk Tina & Paul Hoffman Steve Lovell Ed Picou Pamela Speciale James Carmichael Anne Finch & Robert Fakundiny Carolyn & Bill Holland Erika Lueker-Tarango Daniel Pinkston Frederick Spiegelberg Danielle Carpenter D’nese & Chip Fly Debbie & Ben Hooper Judy & Ernie Lundelius Will Pinkson G. K. & Jim Sprinkle Richard Carroll Brian Flynn Clelon Houpt Don Lundy Megan Plenge Wanda & Ted Stanzel Barbara & Jack Cartwright Heather Flynn Ann & John Howard Lynne & Larry Maddox Nanci & Nick Pollard Ann St. Clair & Kirk Holland Susan & James Caruthers Karen Ford David Hull Patricia & Bruno Maldonado Mary Poteet & Chris Bell Shirley & Bob Steer Chuck Caughey Michael Fox Caroline Rose Hunt Jacqueline Martin Erica Powell Margaret & James Stevens Emma & Edward Cazier Jim Frasher Gregory Hurd Lauren & Pascal Martin Linda Poyser & Mike Maler Michelle Stocker & Sterling Nesbitt Lin Chang Susan & Paul Fredericks Janice & Rusty Jackson Sara & David Martineau Luke Primrose Melissa Anne & Peter Stokes Louise Chapman Patricia & Jack Frizzell James Jang Gyorgy Marton Jane Radcliffe Susan Stone Cathy Chen & Greg Liu Anton Gagne Borden Jenkin Amanda Masterson & David Ingold Michael Rahnis Terre & Dick Stoneburner Carlotta Chernoff Robert Gaines Ellie & Charlie Johnson Colleen & Art Maxwell Susan & Tom Raia Dorothy Sumner Betsy & Richard Chuchla Douglas Gale Kathy & Doug Johnson Janet & Mike McCall Janet & Dave Rainey Emily Swanson Lillie & Uel Clanton Rosemary & Bill Galloway Bub Joyce CecE McCann Kristie Ramlal Susan & Bruce Swartz Cindy & Thomas Clark Cornelia & Edward Gates Marilyn & Alan Joyce Bruce McCommons Matthew Ramos Carl Tepe Lindsey & Jason Clayton Christi & Charles Gell Tamara Kahn Angela McDannel & Bruce Kuyper Lauren Redmond Elizabeth Thompson Margaret & Wilbur Cleaves Belle & Eric German Edward Keilman Andrew McPeak Vickie & Scott Reeve Mac Thompson Michael Clemenson Kay & Steve Germiat Jennifer Kelley Maria Mendez-Lewis & Paul Lewis Coleen & Peter Regan Sherry & Gary Thompson Katherine Coley & David Hood Judy & Jim Gibbs Ann & Paul Kemp Soon & Tony Merz Elward & Bernard Reiss Guy Tidmore Mary Cooke Fred Gibson Suzie & Bob Kent Carole & Wayne Miller JoBeth & Wade Ridley Kay & Leo Tiller Diann & Frank Cornish Jenny & Ronald Gieger Ralph Kerr Heather & Larry Miller Margaret & Barrett Riess Mary & Douglas Toepperwein Steve Crews Gretchen Gillis Nancy & Robert Kier Marika & Martin Milliken Wayne Ritcheson David Tolces Carolyn Croom & John Tate Bill Gipson Jesse Kimball Steve Mills Alex Riter Kitty Tom Pam & Barnes Darwin Eugene Goltz J. Kinsella Ann & Ian Molineux Phillip Robertson Mildred & Elsworth Tonn Venita & John Dasch Betty Golub Tom Kirkpatrick Kathleen Monahan & Michael Mullen LaVonne & Tom Rogers Chiara Tornabene Kyle Davies Mark Gordon Dianne Kline Melissa & Charles Montero Randall Rosenberger Dennis Trombatore & Shiela Winchester Rondi & Joe Davis Andrea & David Gorney Maggie Klocke & Travis Kloss Gloria & Sam Moore Sheri & James Roskopf Kristen & Travis Tucek Catherine & Robert De Sonier Win Goter Jan & Orion Knox Ione & Sidney Moore Ray Ross Kevin Tuerff Henry Dean Mark Graebner Jurgen Koch James Moore Trey Ross Hillary Tulley Luke Decker Kristie Graham Dianna & Gary Kocurek Marcia & Brian Moore Dawna & Peter Rowley John Turner Bill DeMis & Mary Nelis Jason Greager Nancy & Rick Kolb Stephanie Moore & Tim Shin Molly Rupp Keelan Umbarger Caroline Denison Marianne & Will Green Bryant Kopriva Dorothy & Duane Moredock Steve Rutherford Linda & Don Urbanec

106 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 107 Rebecca & Jean-Paul Van Gestel Associations, Corporations Marathon Oil Company David Vannoy and Foundations McKinsey & Company Inc. Eleine Vence Metano Energy III LP Janice & Mark Ver Hoeve National Geographic Society 3M Foundation Inc. The Nature Conservancy John Veracruz American Association of Newfield Exploration Company Joseph Versfelt Petroleum Geologists Paleontological Society of Austin Kristopher Voorhees Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Parsley Energy Incorporated Sharmon & Todd Votteler Apache Corporation Phillips 66 Company David Wahl Austin Community Foundation Pioneer Natural Resources Company Leslie & Earl Wahrmund Austin Geological Society R2Sonic Martha Wall Austin Theatre Alliance Ed Rachal Foundation Liz Walter Ayco Charitable Foundation Range Resources Corporation Margaret & Steve Wang Baker Hughes R & T Robertson Foundation Kathy & Steve Weiner The Bank of New York Mellon Sams Exploration Inc. Bonnie Weise BHP Billiton Limited Schlumberger Information Solutions Pam & Rom Welborn BHP Billiton Petroleum (Americas) Inc. Schlumberger Technology Corporation BP Corporation North America Inc. James Westgate SEG Foundation BP Foundation Inc. Dana & William White Seismos Inc BP plc Sharon & Travis White Shell E & P Technology Company Bybee Foundation Sheri & Jamie White Shell Oil Company Cave Research Foundation Steve White Shell Oil Company Foundation Chevron Corporation Silicon Laboratories Inc. John Wilcox Chicago Bridge & Iron Company Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Mary Wilkinson CLEAResult Consulting Inc. Statoil ASA Cathy & Chuck Williamson Cobalt International Energy L.P. Statoil Gulf Services Karen & James Willrodt Communities Foundation of Texas Texas 3 Star Energy Invest LLC Gail & Feather Wilson ConocoPhillips Company Texas A&M University Mary Wolf & Joe Reese Core Laboratories Thunder Exploration, Inc. Charls Woodruff Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. Tito’s Vodka Arnold Woods Dell Technologies Inc. Toomey Foundation Gail & Danny Worrell Devon Energy Corporation Total E&P USA Inc. Kimberly & David Worthington Dixon Water Foundation Toyota Motor North America Inc. Susan Wygant Drilling Info Inc. U.S. Department of State EGA Consultants LLC Kaila Wyllys & Hugh Winkler University of Washington EOG Resources Inc. Andrew Yanke Walter Oil & Gas Corporation Ernst & Young LLP Pinar Yilmaz The Warburg Pincus Foundation Exxon Mobil Corporation Eleanor & Steven Young The William J. J. Gordon ExxonMobil Exploration Company Family Foundation Michael Young ExxonMobil Foundation Linda & William Young Finkelstein Partners Cathy & Douglas Zarker Freeport Oil Company Ltd. Sarah Zellers Freeport-McMoRan Copper Edith & Bob Zinn & Gold Foundation Geologic Mapping Inc. Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation Gifts of books and materials The G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation to the Walter Geology Library Haddington Ventures 2016–2017 Halliburton Foundation Inc. Hess Corporation The Hood-Barrow Foundation American Geosciences Institute Houston Jewish Community Foundation Chris Bell IBM International Foundation Bill Carlson Imagine Resources LLC Chris Caran Jackson Walker L.L.P. ExxonMobil The KLE Foundation Earle McBride Landmark Resources Inc. Fred McDowell Llewellin Operating Company Virginia Phillips Macquarie Group Foundation

108 | Jackson School of Geosciences ADVISORY COUNCIL

Chairman Mr. Edward A. Duncan, M.A. ’87 Mr. Otaviano de Cruz Pessoa Neto, Ms. Annell R. Bay, M.A. ’80 Great Bear Petroleum LLC Petroleo Brasileiro S. A. Petrobras

Mrs. Connie M. Dyer, B.A. ’58 Mr. Forrest W. Pace, Jr., B.S. ’85 Talisman Energy honorary life members Mr. James W. Farnsworth Dr. Robert E. Boyer Cobalt International Energy, L.P. Dr. Donald L. Paul University of Southern California Mr. L. Decker Dawson Mrs. Julia A. Garvin, B.S. ’82 Dawson Geophysical Company Roxanna Oil Co. Mr. Elliott Pew, M.A. ’82 Enerplus Corporation Mr. Thomas E. Fanning, B.S. ’56 Mr. James A. Gibbs Ms. Deborah Pfeiffer, M.A. ’88 Dr. William L. Fisher Five States Energy Company, L.L.C. Dr. Andrew I. Quarles, Ph.D. ’96 Mr. William E. Gipson, B.A. ’48; M.A. ’49 Mr. Gerald M. Gilbert, B.S. ’68 Endeavor Energy Resources Gas Fund, Inc. Geokinetics Dr. David I. Rainey Mr. Jack H. Mayfield, M.A. ’65 Mr. Joseph Greenberg, M.A. ’86 Alta Resources LLC Mayfield I, Ltd. Mr. Brian C. Reinsborough, M.A. ’93 Mr. Jeremy Greene, M.A. ’84 Venari Resources Mr. James R. Moffett, B.S. ’61 Peregrine Petroleum LLC Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. Mr. Gregg Robertson Ms. Robbie R. Gries, M.A. ’70 First Rock, Inc. Mr. Fred L. Oliver, B.S. ’51 Priority Oil & Gas Co. Mr. Walter J. Scherr III Mr. James C. Patterson Dr. Paul R. Gucwa, Ph.D. ’74 Valence Operating Company Mr. Don B. Sheffield, B.S. ’58 Roxanna Oil Company Mr. Daniel L. Smith, B.S. ’58 Hahn and Clay Ms. Claudia Hackbarth Sandalwood Oil & Gas, Inc. Mr. Russell G. Slayback Shell International Exploration and Mr. Richard K. Stoneburner, B.S. ’76 Leggette, Brashears & Graham, Inc. Production Inc Pine Brook Partners

Mr. Erik G. Hanson Mr. Bryan C. Wagner, B.A. ’84 members Abaco Operating, LLC Wagner Oil Company Dr. Frederick E. Beck Mr. Bill D. Holland, B.S. ’54 Mr. John E. Watson, B.A. ’72 Statoil Holland Exploration Inc. Dr. Charles R. Williamson, Ph.D. ’78 Mr. C. Douglas Brown, B.S. ’84 Mr. David L. Kirchner, B.S. ’73 Ms. Cindy A. Yeilding BXP Ltd Basin & Range Hydrogeologists, Inc. BP America Mr. Thomas M. Burke, B.S. ’49 Mr. James T. Langham Langham McKay & Company Ms. Denise M. Butler ex-officio Shell Exploration & Production Co. Mr. Jeff Larson Dr. Gregory L. Fenves Ms. Danielle L. Carpenter, M.A. ’96 Luxe Energy The University of Texas at Austin Chevron Mr. Thomas B. Layman, M.A. ’87 Dr. Sharon Mosher Mr. Andy Castaldi Parsley Energy Geology Foundation Jackson School of Geosciences Swiss Re Dr. Susan A. Longacre, Ph.D. ’68 The University of Texas at Austin ChevronTexaco Fellow, Emeritus Ms. Carlotta Chernoff, B.S. ’92, M.A. ’95 Mrs. Maurie McInnis ConocoPhilips Alaska Mr. Richard Lunam Executive Vice President and Provost ConocoPhillips Mr. Herve Coutrix The University of Texas at Austin Total E&P Research and Technology Mr. David T. Martineau, M.S. ’97 Mrs. Belle German USA, LLC Martineau Petroleum, Inc. Geology Foundation Ms. Pamela Darwin, M.A. ’84 Mr. Abayomi Olufowoshe, B.A. ’12 Jackson School of Geosciences Exxon Mobil Halliburton-Landmark The University of Texas at Austin

2017 Newsletter | 109 Visit www.jsg.utexas.edu/alumni to learn about upcoming events and ways to get involved.

UT JSG @TX GEOSCIENCES JSG UT AUSTIN @TXGEOSCIENCES that will create electricity from the wonderful, that hopefully will come to ALUMNI NOTES Florida Straits, arguably the fastest ocean pass. With luck, the powers that be, will current body in the world. This has never get it figured out WHICH TOILET WE been done before. This device is robotic NEED TO GO TO!!! Contact me when 1940s in that it is self-propelled, self-anchoring you can, keep the faith, & HOOK ’EM!” and is maintained in a submerged Howard R. Lowe (B.S. ’48) shares, position below large ocean vessels Floyd F. Sabins (B.S. ’52) says, “Old age has finally caught up. We are through remote control by onshore “The 3rd Edition of my book “Remote moving to Ft. Worth to a retirement personnel. SEAVOLT is environmentally Sensing - Principles and Interpretation” facility to be near our daughter. We friendly since it contains both fish was published in 1997 and has been are in good shape, but my 94 years deterrent systems and water intake reprinted numerous times. There have has slowed me down a bit — in fact, a conduits covered by protective grids. been major advancements in the past helluva lot. I am continuing to work with Each system is designed to generate 20 years. The publisher, Waveland a group of 35 retired NASA scientists power for some 60,000 households. I Press, has requested a 4th Ed, which I and engineers on climate change. I had the pleasure of meeting UT President am writing with a co-author, Jim Ellis, also recently published a Kindle book Greg Fenves again at his excellent who is a long-term colleague. Jim brings on Amazon, Beyond Our Control: presentation on November 1, 2016, at a wealth of experience in non-geologic Debunking Manmade Global Warming. I the Houston Country Club. The turnout applications, which are essential in a have lunch occasionally with Dan Smith, was wonderful, and the attendees were modern textbook. My company, Remote and talk to Tom Burke frequently by spectacular. Feel free to call me should Sensing Enterprises, Inc., has completed phone. Time marches on. I have a photo you wish to discuss the patent or just to a series of projects for the U.S. DOD of the Geology 660 Field Course crowd catch up on earlier times: 713-334-4464.” in a SE Asia country. Among other in summer 1948. As soon as I locate it, Bob can also be reached at [email protected]. results, we processed and interpreted I’ll send it to the Jackson School.” satellite images to identify a major new Jimmie Russell (B.S. ’52, M.A. ’54) coal basin. Father Time has slowed me 1950s reports, “THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE down, and I have foregone my annual fly-fishing trips to Alaska, Mexico and Raymond “Pat” Anderson (B.S. UGLY: The GOOD, maybe, is that I western U.S. I do have good memories ’56) writes, “Joanne and I still enjoy seem to have become a Father Figure of great fish that were landed, admired, frequent trips to Colorado Rockies. I to the Fraternity that put up with me photographed and released to fight still enjoy my bird dogs and quail lsc. I when I was a student at UT, during another day.” can’t believe we’re producing frac., shale a time when you did not have to put some geography after “The University Eagleford, etc. Hook ’em horns!” Leslie P. White (B.S. ’56) of Texas.” The “Good-Ole-Days” - the says, “Dianne and I continue on in SW Austin. The Philip Braithwaite (M.A. ’58) OLD is NOW!! The BAD, is the baggage grandkids are close by and they are a great says, “Barbara and I continue to enjoy that comes free(?) with the title “Senior pleasure. We are so proud of JSG, and we retirment together in Dallas. This year Citizen” — Senior to The UGLY, Look enjoy staying in touch. I look forward will be our 59-year wedding anniversary. in the mirror, DUDE!!! Most of the time to reading the Newsletter cover-to-cover I have been retired for 19 years and did a this year, I was at home doing very little. every year. Your effort in making this fair amount of consulting and traveling I don’t do NOTHING, and it takes me publication so good is greatly appreciated.” in the first 10 years. I try to keep up all-day to NOT do it! Otherwise, a major with geological developments through percentage of my time is visiting many AAPG, DGS and UT Dallas seminars.” different members, and facilities, of the 1960s medical profession. One highlight was Robert E. Doyle (B.S. ’55, the visit I had with the young lady that M.S. ’57) shares, “I am still in the was a teacher when I worked with/ business of completing and patenting for her as an assistant teacher, working inventions. These include oil spill with Special Needs Middle and High containment systems, marine current School students in Round Rock, Texas. power generation and wildfire control. She was home for a visit from working Just received acceptance of patent with very young children in Rwanda, No. 9745951 from the USPTO. This Africa. Other highlights were spending renewable energy power generating some time, in various ways, with system will be available for public review friends of days of yore. The very best Russell S. Harmon (B.A. ’69) through the internet beginning August of all during this, was/is my dearest, shares, “I completed my 5½-year 29, 2017. The system is called SEAVOLT, my love, my wife, Rita. Remember appointment as Director of the a large, mobile subsea turbine/generator dear hearts, there is always something

2017 Newsletter | 111 International Research Office of the sight seeing, hiking and fishing are Peter D. Rowley (Ph.D. ’68) says, Janie Bell (B.S. ’78) says, “Living all at UT Jackson School alum events current day deep water. Crossed the 38- USACE Engineer Research & beyond comparison. I urge anyone not “Had a busy year in my consulting half-time in Dallas and half-time in wherever they might be.” year mark in the industry on June 4th, and Development Center at the end of May having visited these awesome places to business. But more fun was for free, Nashville. Come visit me class of ’78!” plan to keep going at for a while longer! I and have left life in London for include them in any bucket list. Most of on our Markagunt gravity slide, the Patricia Wood Dickerson (B.A. never seem to get tired of searching for oil retirement back in NC. Life should our crowd spent 4 days in Glacier and world’s largest terrestrial slide, over C. Elmo Brown (B.A. ’76) shares, ’70, Ph.D. ’95) writes, “I’m in and gas. On a personal note, the kids are continue to be busy though, with a 4 days in Yellowstone. I had two extra 2,000 square miles in extent where “I am still working in Denver at The countdown mode as I write this – all grown and we now have we have five continuing appointment as Adjunct the southern side of the Marysvale anticipating explorations by plane, train, days in Yellowstone with my brother Discovery Group, a small consulting grandchildren. Time has just flown by.” Associate Professor in the Department volcanic field failed about 21 Ma. Lots firm known worldwide for its geology boat, bus and boots in Iceland, then fishing. He has caught nearly every fish of Marine, Earth & Atmospheric of mapping yet to do here in Central and petrophysical expertise. Kathy in Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Robert Alan Levich (M.A. ’73) in the Gallatin and Madison Rivers and Sciences at North Carolina State Utah with colleagues (Utah Geological and I are still traveling around the (instructing once again for Smithsonian currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada and released every one. He ties flys, builds University and much unpublished stable Survey, Kent State University).” globe, this year to Vietnam, Cambodia groups). Eager to pursue my evolving can be reached at [email protected]. rods and teaches kid at camp fly fishing. isotope and laser spectroscopy research and Thailand (and Billings, MT, hypothesis on Andean archaeological We enjoyed the food of Bozeman and still to be written up for publication. Rubin Amos Schultz, Jr. (B.S. Casper, WY, Houston and Austin for stone work. Midway between the John W. Preston (B.S. ’70) shares, “I But, Karen and I will begin by the wonderful Flathead Cherries. What ’61) shares, “Still enjoying retirement geoscience meetings).” Equator and Husavik (near the Arctic retired end of last year and started this celebrating our retirements with a a way to escape 100+ temps in OK and and some traveling. Spent some Circle) is the Big Bend, scene of fine year on a retainer for the same company. September excursion to Botswana, the cool summer mornings of Montana! time in Branson, MOo last fall. Also Royce P. Carr (B.S. ’76) reports, “I late fall field forays with stimulating Still having fun looking for grease in all Zimbabwe and South Africa.” Hoping this finds all of you in good health. enjoying grandkids and two of them am still working in the Permian Basin colleagues and students. Returned the wrong places.” You can reach me at [email protected].” are expecting in August and October. and reside in Mount Pleasant, Texas. My to the Solitario and the oldest rocks J. Phil Jones (B.S. ’64) writes, So I will soon be a Great grandfather!! wife, Deborah and I went to Italy this exposed there – still investigating the Stephen L. Shaw (B.S. ’71, M.A. “2017 has thus far been a year of Jereld E. McQueen (B.S. ’61, M.A. ’63) Where did all the years go? Anyway, year with the Flying Longhorns. What ancient bones of Laurentia. Enjoyed the ’74) reports, “With Firstview Resources remembrance. On April 30, I made it to reports, “Continuing to pursue investment it’s nice to see family grow. Still enjoy a beautiful place! I now understand why culminating session of paleomagnetic still working oil & gas and water 80 years. On June 2, my wife and I, with opportunities. I am always amazed visiting UT and seeing places I once one of my professors, Dr. Robert Folk, sampling (Sul Ross University master’s projects, but now from San Angelo area called home. The wife and I are planning children and grandchildren, celebrated by and proud of the Jackson School of spent as much time as he could there.” study) along Tascotal Mesa fault zone instead of Midland. I helped Dr. Joe our annual Branson, MO trip in our 50th wedding anniversary. We Geosciences’ excellent accomplishments.” on Alazan Ranch, which was home Satterfield lead Angelo State University traveled to Branson and enjoyed a November. Would love to see any of my Frank G. Cornish (M.A. ’75) writes, during my dissertation field research. students on a field trip to Balcones week of entertainment and scenery old classmates.” “In October 2016, the company I Many a story was told, refined over Research Center campus and tour the William Allen Monroe (B.S. ’63) in the Ozarks. The scenery was as explored for in Corpus Christi, SV time (like the raconteurs!). Here at UT, Bureau of Economic Geology. We were shares, “My wife Debbie and I continue beautiful as ever with lots of wild William Feathergail Energy became Texegy, an acquisition the senior thesis project on age and warmly greeted and given a very full to travel extensively with a cruise Wilson (B.S. ’60, flowers and geology to explore. The company and was no longer in the origin of deeply buried Proterozoic to tour and three technical presentations through the Panama Canal, trips to M.A. ’62) area had experienced massive rains reports, conventional exploration business. Cambrian metamorphic rocks in SW in our 5 hour visit.” Steve can be Kauai and Tahiti early in the year, and earlier and the lakes were still 20’ or “Still working as a I’ve been consulting for Suemaur Texas is complete. Both students ably reached at [email protected]. so above the usual level. In the event a planned trip to The Balkans and the geologist at the age of Exploration, a conventional exploration presented their findings at a regional 82. Working as a you have opportunity, don’t miss the Danube River coming up at the end of company since then and nursing old GSA meeting, and our manuscript re the Bren Sidereas (B.S. ’74) says, “I’m petroleum and a groundwater geologist College of the Ozarks and the great food August. We continue to be active in the prospects. Hurd Enterprises, San Precambrian study is now taking shape. now in my third year of retirement in West, Central and South Texas. and museums on the campus. Having AAPG Foundation Trustee Associates Antonio will drill one of them this GeoRef work with favorite folks at AGI and getting pretty good at keeping up Published two historical Texas novels retired in June of 2012, we have made group with a meeting planned in August 2017. This summer at NAPE and UT continues to be educational a minimal amount of activity to keep last year, Nueces and La Tierra, with multiple trips to upstate NY (Richfield Maine in September. I assist in scoring 2017 we will see how the industry and enjoyable. And the musical somewhat fit but not stay completely Amazon. Working on a third entitled Springs and Cooperstown) with lots requests for grants through the L. pulse is, if alive at all. Our local SIPES accompaniment to all this flows from bored. I’m enjoying my 4 grandkids, The Golden Lane. All three are based on of history and geology to be enjoyed. Austin Weeks student grant program group hosted the 2017 national volunteering for Austin Classical Guitar ages 2-6, all of whom live very near us my own experiences in Texas and We have since assisted our daughter, so it gives me a connection to the cost convention in Vail, Co. I presented and dancing Argentine tango and blues.” in the Lake Ray Hubbard area east of Mexico as a rancher and geologist.” son-in-law, and 4 grandchildren in a of education worldwide. Always enjoy “Hydrocarbon Traps Associated Dallas. We’ve been to the Grand Canyon big move from NY to OK. They now with Upper Wilcox Canyons, Middle Abelardo Garza-Hernandez (B.S. with my son’s family (2 grandsons), and getting back to Austin for the Jackson William C. Young (B.A. ’61) shares, reside in Edmond, OK as does our son, Texas Gulf Coast” which had been a ’75) shares, “I continue living in Parral, Florida’s Panhandle beaches with my School functions and seeing old friends.” “I’m still able to travel and enjoy life. daughter-in-law and their 2 children. poster session at the GCAGS 2016 Chihuahua, Mexico, since 1976, married daughter’s family (2 granddaughters) Glaucoma is hampering my vision, but All within a stone throw from where convention. Along the way to and to Carolina, with four children and 8 over the last couple of years. Last year Tom S. Patty (M.A. ’68) writes, “Still still have one good eye.” we abide. While we greatly enjoyed the from Vail, I had selected excellent grandchildren, running my own mining my wife and I made it to Cape Town, drilling in sand and gravel deposits scenery of Upstate NY, we no longer sights for geological and picturesque consulting business, providing services South Africa for a very memorable and as well as crushed stone for clients in have the burden of 1,500-mile trips to photos for my photography website, to several major and junior mining wonderful experience. Just by freak Central Texas. Continued tending to and from, and we now enjoy lesser fuel 1970s FrankGCornishPhotography.smugmug. and mineral exploration companies, as chance when we visited the Mount consumption and cost. Just returned wife JoAnn’s needs for 57 years and able com. I’ve put the geological pics on well as being involved in other mining Rochelle Winery in Franschhoek, my Patrick Abbott (Ph.D. ’73) writes, from wonderful trip visiting both to be with the kids and eight grandkids. facebook, Frank G Cornish Photography. ventures in México.” He can be reached wife exchanged pleasantries with Sir “My life is still geology. Leading Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks Son John still working with major Let me know what you think, it’s at [email protected]. Richard Branson, the winery’s owner Smithsonian Journeys to all continents; with brother, son, grandson, son-in- contractor in Austin, one daugther ever expanding. They can be used in (huge highlight picture). Obama doesn’t 10th edition of textbook out; doing TV law and son. Wow, what a wonderful moving into a new home in Williamson education with permission, so point S. Lance Jackson (B.S. ’79) writes, news; writing “legacy” books. Work is have anything on her! About the only way to enjoy God’s creation and to see County, another remodeling historical teachers there, and I’ll allow classroom more fun than play.” “Still enjoying the work at ExxonMobil, geology I do now is picking up a few it sustain and increase it’s beauty. The home on ranch in Hamilton County.” usage at their request. Hope you see you everything from unconventionals to clams and snails out of the Glen Rose

112 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 113 Formation when spending a long John Heberling (B.S. ’85) shares, above $50. I never thought I would be Geoscience’s FANs Board and attending James Mark Null weekend in the Austin area. The ever “I have not looked much at comments saying that 20 years ago. Something alumni events. It sure is great to see (B.S. ’87) shares, “I beautiful Hill Country of course was in recent years. Seemed very distant. tells me our oil patch won’t look the those of you who have attended. I hope currently serve as the where I took my first field geology But then I received a message from a same 20 years from now.” to see more of you at future events, so Director (Hydrologist- course in the summer of 1972. Fun fellow student back in January. Her that we can catch up with each other in-Charge) of the Richard Alan Kolb (M.A. ’81) fossil hunting, great BBQ & beer and fall messaged changed the course of my life. says, and see how we have aged. I have lots National Oceanic and Longhorn football — some things don’t A line from the movie Appaloosa. ‘Life “I continue to work as a consulting of gray hair and a few wrinkles. I guess Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) change too much.” has a way of making the foreseeable geologist for a small firm in the living in NW Houston with high West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort that which never happens, and the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina. I humidity has helped keep the number Worth, one of 13 such river forecast Raymond P. Sorenson (M.A. ’75) unforeseeable, that which your life am in my seventh year on the North of wrinkles down. As for work, I am centers across the nation. I am currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma and can becomes.’ So true. Life is good! Hope Carolina Board for the Licensing of still doing a bit of geoscience responsible for ensuring that citizens of everyone is well.” John can be reached at Geologists, and in my third year as consulting, mainly overseas in China be reached at [email protected]. Texas, New Mexico, and portions of Margaret Sipple Srinivasan (B.S. [email protected]. chair. We recently added a continuing and Africa. I am hoping to stay closer Colorado and Louisiana, receive timely ’82) writes, “I’m in my 17th year at the education requirement, 12 hours a to home and attempting to get some and accurate river and flood forecast Jet Propulsion Lab in California and my Christoph Heubeck (M.A. ’88) year, to maintain one’s license. The gigs in Latin America. Best of luck to information for the protection of life hats include Manager of the JPL Center 1980s reports, “I am busy as a professor at the many comments from the pubic to the all and hope to see you at the SEG and property. I have served in numerous for Climate Sciences, and Deputy Fred (B.S. ’83) and Teresa University of Jena in central Germany. proposed rules change were interesting, conference here in Houston in leadership positions within the Federal Program Applications Lead for the My field is General and Historical with the older licensees often against September ... Hook ’em!” Bruno can be Harkrader Becker (B.S. ’82) share, government including the U.S Geological SWOT, Sentinel-6 and Jason-3 satellite Geology, so my interests range widely. the requirement and the younger reached at [email protected]. “We are enjoying retirement here in Survey, the U.S. Army Corps of missions. In my spare time (!), I’m In the past few years, I have become licensees overwhelmingly in favor. beautiful Marble Falls. We recently Engineers, and the U.S. Naval getting an M.S. from Johns Hopkins in somewhat of an expert on interpreting I attended the Council of Examiners travelled to the Amazon and to Iceland Oceanographic Office. Prior to my Environmental Science and Policy. extremely old rocks, especially those in meeting of the Association of State with the Flying Longhorns and are civilian career, I served as a U.S. Navy Good times! Cheers to all of my former the Barberton Greenstone Belt of South Boards of Geology (ASBOG) in Flagstaff active in our local Highland Lakes Meteorologic and Oceanographic officer UT colleagues!” Chapter of the Texas Exes. Would love Africa and Swaziland.” in April, and stopped in Austin for a retiring at the rank of Commander. Also, few days on my way there to visit my to hear from any of our classmates!” I actively involved with the TEXAS Stephen W. Speer (M.A. ’83) says, Jim Immitt (M.A. ’81) shares, “Pam kids. Daughter Jennifer will begin her EXES and have been recently selected as “Life is good. Still kicking and enjoying and I are in Spring, Texas and our second year of school at the UT School Julie Bonner (B.S. ’83) writes, the President of the Fort Worth Chapter! life with Therese in SC. What could be children (Adrian and Angela) are of Social Work this fall, where she’s “Retired by choice last year and enjoying We have a great group here in Cow Town finer? Cheers to all my fellow UT grad enjoying living in Colorado. After a working on her M.S. degree. Son Travis it! Hit my 50th country this summer with many networking and scholarship school sojourners, may your life still be fun and challenging stint generating recently began work at GeoSearch and pondering what I want to be when fund raising activities for our next filled with joy and wonders ... and may deep water prospects in the subsalt after graduating from Texas State in I grow up!” generation of Longhorns!” your aches and pains be tolerable.” Miocene of the Gulf of Mexico for ENI, 2016 with a degree in geography. I got caught in the downturn and am in Austin and Raleigh are quite similar, Jason Nicholas Moore (B.S. ’84) Richard Carroll (B.S. ’80) reports, Jerry Schwarzbach (B.A. ’83) says, George Brian transition again. The twists and turns both being the state capitals and home says, “I now live in a town about an “I am still gainfully employed in the oil “Enjoying life in Tyler. My daughter Sutherland (B.S. continue in a career that has included to several universities, many tech hour south of Austin called Seguin. I and gas industry and working the greater graduates UT in ’18. Seems like ’84) currently resides both exploration geoscience and firms, and numerous microbreweries have had three books on Soviet Permian Basin for Caza Petroleum. I can yesterday I was there. Great memories! in The Woodlands, corporate finance. Hello to my fellow (to the delight of all geologists). I am Second World War aircraft published be reached at [email protected].” Picture from dig for Royal Tyrrell Texas and is President Longhorns, and onto the next chapter!” Jim active in the Carolinas Chapter of in the last two years, and I am Museum of Paleontology in Alberta, of Kinetic Upstream can be reached at [email protected]. the Association of Environmental & finishing up my fifth (the fourth, a Charles Goebel (B.S. ’80) says, Canada summer 1984 with fellow Technologies, LLC. He can be reached at Engineering Geologists, and am one book on post-war Soviet strategic “Hanging in there, oil & gas wise. Good Longhorn Clayton Wilson. Working, [email protected]. Charles Graham of the planners for our second vapor bombers should be out this year). I am news is all three heirs are now UT flying, raising cattle.” Johnson (B.S. ’83) intrusion conference, this time in now a full-time author, with contracts Austin graduates!” Bruce Swartz (B.S. ’82) shares, writes, “Three out of Charlotte, on October 5 and 6, 2017, for books up to 2022. That should Scott Simmons (B.S. ’87) reports, “I “Sold all my production in late ’16. college, one a senior at with speakers from all over the U.S. keep me busy!” Gary George Gray (Ph.D. ’85) am still having a great time as the chief Starting over with some consulting in Portland State and also We had over 200 attend our first writes, “I retired from ExxonMobil standards nerd for the Open Geospatial both exploration and production. In a a seventh grader. Ellen conference in Raleigh in 2014. VI is Marian Morris (B.S. ’81) reports, research in 2013. Have been teaching Consortium (OGC). The work keeps few years I hope to quit chasing rigs and and I stay busy keeping up with all of becoming more and more of an issue “I have been working for Statoil and advising students at Rice U part me engaged with plenty of geologists just slide logs.” Bruce can be reached at the activities. It hardly seems like 35 in contamination assessments and real since 1996 and still love geophysics! time since. The Mexico consulting and some of my old pals from the oil [email protected]. years since my UT days. My company estate transactions.” Currently I live north of the Arctic business has finally picked up, and so and gas industry (and even one of my just made a major acquisition into the Circle in Harstad, Norway. Please I’m getting to do some nice fieldwork favorite members of OGC: UT!). Life Mark C. Walker (B.A. ’81) is now legacy Texas Woodbine at Cayuga Field. Bruno Maldonado get in touch if you are in town :-) with Jim Pindell’s group. Two grandkids remains pretty perfect up here in Fort with national law firm Dickinson Hopefully we can bring our Frio/Yegua (B.S. ’82) writes, There is wonderful hiking, riding, in Providence, Rhode Island, and kids on Collins - enjoying the great outdoors Wright PLLC, and continues to practice operational skills to bear on the “Hello fellow skiing and scuba diving here, never both coasts, so visiting keeps our carbon and abundant craft beer. I continue from the El Paso office, for which he acts Cretaceous. Strong water drives, high Longhorns! I am still a dull moment! You can email me at footprint fairly high! Still located in to drive my kids nuts by stopping at as managing partner. Among others, permeability and low oil gravity make involved with the [email protected].” Bellaire, Texas, so stop by and check out roadcuts and providing lectures on why Mark is delighted that life and law for high hopes. Maybe oil can get back Jackson School of my Bonneville salt flats race car ... ” the Triassic rocks are so red.” partner Kathleen Campbell Walker (J.D.

114 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 115 ’85, former Masked Rider, Rodeo Queen football and Geo Alumni events, and a week in Breckenridge with all of us. healthy boy, to the world on March 23, so well attended! Lastly, I transferred and distinguished alumna of Texas especially getting to do some fossil The kids got their first taste of swimming 2017. Thomas Tydings Thacker III. I also from EOG’s San Antonio division to Tech) is also a member of Dickinson hunting with wife Lesley (retired XOM at Balmorhea State Park and seeing the launched my own company, Wolfcamp EOG’s Midland division last February. I Wright. Earlier this year Mark worked geologist) and sons Evan and Henry ... Marfa Mystery Lights. I’ll never forget Royalty Partners, LLC, which is a am very much enjoying my new home!” with Arkansas Representative Warwick thanks to Dr. Sprinkle for the tip! hyrdo field camp in 1996: I begged Jack mineral and royalty acquisition fund Sabin to pass Arkansas H.B. 1666, Wishing all the mid 80’s grads well!” Sharp to take us to Marfa to see the lights. focused on the Permian Basin. To date, Joseph Cleveland an important bill that requires all He told me if I could convince a TA to the fund has closed over 75 transactions (B.S. ’14) shares, “I am incoming college students in Arkansas drive me then he’d let us go. I begged covering mineral/royalty interests in currently a 4th year to receive orientation on mental health our TA, James, to drive me to Marfa over 100 producing wells, under 20+ of medical student at Texas Frank ‘Trey’ Wagner (B.S. ’96) shares, awareness and suicide prevention. 1990s from Ft. Davis and he graciously said the premier operators of the Permian A&M Health Science “I recently moved with the family from H.B. 1666 follows and expands on Darcy (Brooks) yes, the whole way telling me, “You know, Basin, across 7 counties and WRP is Center College of Houston to Anchorage, Alaska. Enjoying Texas S.B. 1624, which Mark helped Cuthill (B.S. ’93) is Christi, these probably aren’t real.” But continuing to grow.” Thomas can be Medicine. I will be graduating May of the cooler temperatures and hiking in draft and pass in 2015 in honor of the currently living and they were, and are! The kids now have reached at [email protected]. 2018 with an Doctorate of Medicine the mountains.” wonderful memory of his son, Lee working in Merida, been bitten by the West Texas bug and and intend to pursue Medical Residency Middleton Hooper Walker, who left us Yucatán, Mexico. are little rock hounds of course. Charlie, in Internal Medicine, planning to Hugh Winkler (M.A. ’92) says, in May, 2014. Mark can be reached at the kids, and I have all been doing karate specialize in Oncology. Although I am “Geophysics this year published my [email protected]. together for the last 14+ months so 2010s not specifically practicing a profession paper, “Geosteering by exact inference don’t mess with the Gells! Drop me a Gabriel Aguilar (M.S. ’14) in the Geological Sciences, I am using all on a Bayesian network” which treats Steve (M.A. ’81) and Kathy Hubby line if you are ever in Houston or want currently works as a Wellsite Geologist of the skills I obtained in the Jackson geosteering as a probabilistic inverse Weiner (B.S. ’83) share, “We were to meet up: [email protected].” in Denver, CO and can be reached at School on a daily basis to help others. problem, and shows how to use techniques fortunate enough to be able to travel [email protected]. Some of the happiest moments of my from machine learning to solve it. The to Italy again this year. We enjoyed educational career and life in general, algorithm gives the most likely estimate our time in Positano and Cinque Terre, Randy Caber (M.S. have been with the Jackson School. The for the lateral change in geology and the among other areas. This beautiful region ’10) says, “I entered the people I came to know on a personal basis well path. After four years at Drilling Info, is part of a Tertiary fold and thrust belt, investment banking in the Jackson School are friendships I I’ve left to found a new company, Factor which left many cliff faces rising from side of the oil and gas cherish to this day, and that I know I will Technology, which uses that algorithm the sea. Steve was pleased to be able Rimas Gaizutis (B.S. ’91) writes, industry in January hold close for the rest of my life. I wish all in a software product that advises to help a number of JSG students with “Back in Houston working as 2017 and am currently the best to this school and all of the directional drillers how best to keep the their interviewing skills again this past Petrotechnical Manager Americas for working for Simmons & Company students that are fortunate enough to well path in zone, while drilling.” year, while also serving on the FANS REPSOL. Got to spend some quality International | Energy Specialists of call it home.” Joseph can be reached at board, and as a judge in the student time over the past year with fellow Piper Jaffray as a Staff Geologist in [email protected]. resume writing contest. Both he and geology grad Doug Bowling where we Houston, Texas. At Simmons, I assist oil Kathy are happily retired in the Central shared a hunting lease. Mike Whittaker 2000s and gas firms with acquisitions and Texas area.” was able to join us out there one Nikolas A. Hazel (B.A. ’93) says, divestitures, corporate financing, Terra J. George weeekend as well. Lots of great stories “2016–2017 exciting year for us with a drillco’s, and other strategy needs by (M.S. ’08) reports, Clayton Hill Wilson (B.S. ’83, shared around the campfire especially new baby boy! Now 1 year old! Moved clients. I also recently passed the exams “After 10 years with M.A. ’85) currently resides in about Field Camp ... ” Rimas can be back to Austin, Texas in 2014. Started for FINRA 63 and 79 licenses.” ConocoPhillips, I accepted Houston, Texas and can be reached at reached at [email protected]. my own business: Nikolas Alan Fine a new position as Sr. Staff [email protected]. Jewelry Design. Bought a house in Geologist at Diamondback Lakeway a month ago near Lake Travis. Energy. I am currently the asset geologist Happy to be back in Austin after 14 for the “Brigham” area in the Southern years in Phoenix Arizona and 2 years in Delaware Basin.” Terra can be reached at South Florida.” Nick Danger (M.S. ’16) says, “I am [email protected]. currently working at SQ Environmental Sachin Shah (B.S. ’98) is the Chief as a project geoscientist and for Hydrologic Studies and Research at environmental consultant. I am based the USGS Texas Water Science Center out of Austin but conduct field work and Gulf Coast Program in Houston, Texas. commercial drone operations across the He has been part of the development United States for several multinational Christi Gell (B.S. ’96) reports, ‘I just a new interactive web application Marcus Chroback (B.S. ’10) writes, corporations. When I have free time, I started a new job as Associate Director on groundwater level changes and “I am enjoying my time on the Jackson enjoy hiking, disc golf and van camping of Technical Sales at IHS Markit. This subsidence in the Houston region. School’s FAN’s board. It is so great to see in National and State Parks.” David Laurence Work (B.S. ’84) followed an awesome summer which the cutting edge research projects that says, “Recently moved to Deepwater culminated in an epic geology-focused Becky Smyth (M.A. ’95) will be are always going on at the school. I am Mackenzie Day (Ph.D. ’17) reports, “I Thomas Tydings Thacker, Jr. (B.A. GOM after years of Eagle Ford at road trip with my kids through West retiring from BEG after more than 20 looking forward to the alumni tailgate began a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship ’08) writes, “My wife, Mary-Alex, and I Anadarko. Enjoy coming back for UT Texas, eastern New Mexico and Colorado years and return to private consulting. weekend in November, they are always with the NASA Astrobiology Institute at welcomed our first child, a happy,

116 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 117 the University of Washington in Seattle. I found my path in a roundabout way, three advisees doing field work along graduating from the Masters program, I me, my wife Marjorie and daughter I plan to continue my study of dunes on but wouldn’t trade any memories from the Atacama Fault System in northern started my career with Apache Professors Emeriti Jenny. Later I greatly enjoyed taking Mars with an eye to understand whether Jackson for a degree in political science. Chile. All four are JSG alumni! Pictured Corporation in June 2016 where I Robert L. Folk writes, “Semi- students there (alternating boy vs. dunes could have supported early life.” I look forward to what the future brings left to right: Rachel Ruthven (BS 2016, completed a rotation for a year with the Scandaloso Reminiscences from RL girl – no sexism here!) and most found and I know that the Jackson School honors advisor Rich Ketcham), John International New Ventures group. I Folk: I came south from Penn State to that very enriching too. Financing Tian Y. Dong (B.S. ’13) says, “After has prepared me for whatever my next Singleton (Ph.D. 2011, advisor Sharon have since begun my second year work in Houston for an oil company by the BEG allowed me to work on receiving a M.S. in Earth Science at Rice career brings. Hook ’em!” Mother), Nikki Seymour (MS 2015, rotation in Midland with the research lab. After less than a year I travertines with Hank Chafetz. Why University in 2015, I am continuing as advisor Daniel Stockli) and Evan Conventional Exploration team working decided to teach and do my own style work such an unimportant rock? Well it a Ph.D student and expecting to finish Bridget Pettit (B.S. ’15) says, “I Strickland (BS 2010, honors advisor the Midland Basin and am thrilled to be of science. On an errand I stopped by turns out that they were made by “real” in 2019.” recently graduated with my M.S. in Mark Cloos).” working carbonate rocks again, the University of Texas unannounced bacteria (not algae). This completely Geology from the University of Kansas considering I studied under “the just as Sam Ellison and Ronald DeFord changed both of our research foci into Hector K. Garza (B.S. ’16) is studying under fellow JSG grad Dr. Michelle Stocker (Ph.D. ’13) Guadfather” himself, Dr. Charlie Kerans. were taking over the Department and the role of bacteria in making all sorts currently a consultant geologist at Mike Blum, and am excited to begin my writes, “I accepted a position as Since graduating, I have made it a point shortly they offered me a prof’s job and of minerals. Subsequently at Viterbo in Premier Oilfield Laboratories in career as a geologist with ExxonMobil.” Assistant Professor of Paleobiology to travel to new places such as Canada, $4,200/year. So I began in September 1990 I discovered the minute universe Houston, Texas and can be reached at in the Department of Geosciences at Thailand, Bali, China, Japan and 1952 teaching Structural Geology (all of dwarf forms (nanobacteria) which [email protected]. Virginia Tech starting January 2017. throughout the central U.S. My next four 3-hour labs a week, no TA’s) and were later found on the meteorite from I am a Faculty Affiliate in the Global adventure will be over Thanksgiving Economic Geology. In those “good ole Mars. Biologists rushed in to deny it, Emma Heitmann (B.S ’16) spent Change Center at Virginia Tech while this year trekking to the base camp of days” one taught wherever the Boss but this has been my research focus ever about 5 months in Brazil managing the also holding research positions at the Mount Everest in the Himalayas.” needed to fill in a hole. Thank God he since. Right now with Earle McBride fieldwork for a cave monitoring project Virginia Museum of Natural History, did not need a paleo guy! Next, Sam told I’m studying Fe oxide in sandstones with Corinne Wong, and has now the Smithsonian’s Natural History Angela Wu Li (B.A. ’15) writes, me (not asked) to teach summer field and looking for the inorganic vs. returned to Austin. Museum, the North Carolina Museum “I spent the year after graduation in camp in torrid East Texas (Bastrop- bacteriological origins of those cements.” of Natural Sciences, and the Jackson Austin, working and travelling for Smithville-La Grange). Of course I Michael Lis (B.S. ’16) says, “I will School’s Vertebrate Paleontology Lab at Apple Maps. Then the west coast called had to say “yes Boss” even though as a be attending the University of South Rania Eldam Pommer (B.S. ’13) UT Austin. My research group focuses my name and I’m now in San Francisco carbonate petrographer I knew nothing Carolina Fall 2017 and getting my shares, “Hello! As you may know, I on the evolution of reptiles, and I am working at a startup. Though the at all about that kind of field geology – Masters in Geology. I can be reached at self-published two STEM-related looking for curious and driven M.S. and beloved 512 will always be home, I will soils, trees, tire traction, etc. But I found [email protected].” children’s books in 2016 (MD and Finn Ph.D. students to apply to my lab for have to say that the hills out here are that I loved it (and became good at it). Go Camping, and MD and Finn: Solar Fall 2018!” pretty impressive. Always up for coffee Then I got to teach sedimentology and Lorena Martinez (B.S. ’16) will Power! Both are available on amazon. if anyone finds themselves out here sedimentary petrography – the first pursue a M.S. in biology at Texas State com!), but 2017 has been a pretty darn Chak Hau Michael Tso (B.S. ’12) studying faults and grains!” class in carbonate petrography in the starting next fall. exciting year too! I’m working with my shares, “After getting my BSGEH U.S. In those days one did not have to illustrator on a potential new MD and degree from UT, I moved to University William I (Bill) Woods (retired bring in huge amounts of grant money. Frank Morgan (B.S. ’11) writes, Finn project (coming 2018), I’m well on of Arizona for a M.S. in hydrology. executive assistant in the Students and I could do research on “I am working for Devon Energy my way into my Ph.D. at Colorado Now my wife Elizabeth and I live in Department of Geological anything that looked interesting. So in Oklahoma City with the Rockies School of Mines, and I recently got the beautiful countryside of Lancaster, Sciences) shares, “This has been we are able to work on sandstones William Galloway (M.A. ’68, Ph.D. exploration team with focus on the hitched to another Jackson School alum United Kingdom, where I am working another full year. In March and April, and shales in West Virginia and East ’71) reports, “The industry-funded Powder River Basin.” Frank can be - Maxwell Pommer! This year has been on a Ph.D. on hydrogeophysics.” Francisco and I spent 3 weeks in El Texas, and local Austin limestones or project began more than 20 years ago, reached at [email protected]. good to us so far, and I can’t wait to see Salvador visiting family and another carbonate sands in Yucatan, pebble the Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis where the next one takes us!” week in Big Bend National Park with shapes in the Colorado River and (better known as GBDS), continues. It Alif Musa (B.S. ’16) reports, “I friends. Both were fun, interesting Tahiti, grain size sands on the Texas has expanded, first to include the recently landed a job with Halliburton Makoto Sadahiro (M.S. ’14) trips. In June, we traveled to Toronto to coast and the red desert of Australia. Mesozoic, and most recently to as a technical consultant.” recently moved to Japan and can be visit his sister there. I have taken on a In 1959 something great happened. encompass the wealth of data now reached at [email protected]. volunteer position at the Heart Hospital Ellison hired Earle F. McBride from becoming available for Mexico. Rebecca Nunu (B.S. ’16) is starting of Austin, working at their conceiege Johns Hopkins and we worked together Though long officially retired, I’ve graduate studies in hydrogeology at UT desk; I enjoy being around people and symbiotically on Devonian cherts in continued part-time collaboration San Antonio. helping out. I still go to GRE to work Trans-Pecos Texas and Jurassic “deep with the GBDS group at UTIG, and out, MWF. Francisco retired from UT (shallow?)-water” certs in Italy. When was finally persuaded to co-author a Evan Pearson (B.S. ’10) writes, at the end of February, so we have time two guys with different ideas work book (in preparation) that will “I’ve enjoyed life as a geologist working to travel more and are planning a trip together on the same project you get synthesize the Gulf and its geologic for Pinnacle Potash International for in November to Australia, New Zealand a very fruitful outcome and make lots history. Travel remains a major six and a half years, but I’m ready to Kristopher James Voorhees (B.S. and Tasmania. I always enjoy hearing of new discoveries. I spent 6 months past-time, both for leisure and for embark on my new adventure - law! ’14, M.S. ’16) writes, “I graduated from my GS friends. I can be reached at in Australia (1965) and another 6 landscape/wildlife photography. I Both my school and work experience with a Masters from the Jackson School [email protected].” months in Milano, Italy (1973) at the spend a lot of time in the digital have inspired me to pursue a career Nikki Seymour (M.S. ’15) shares, in 2016, where I also received a invitation of Riccardo Assereto. This darkroom, working on the images on the legal side of natural resources. “Here are Dr. John Singleton and his Bachelor’s degree in 2014. Since was a soul-enriching experience for collected over the past 10 years.

118 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 119 Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and a Pleistocene cave fauna from Western several shorter trips up to southern Yellowstone are favorites. Fall foliage Australia. We are also involved in a Oklahoma this year to visit fossil most anywhere is a close second.” study of a new locality north of Houston collecting localities and other workers that so far has produced the first record up there. During the last 4 years, I’ve for the U.S. of a South American animal, published 9 papers or book chapters, 6 a toxodont. This animal was about abstracts for talks or posters at GSA or the size of a small rhino. I have given other conferences, and a book review. several talks about the late Pleistocene I still have at least 20 additional fossils from Inner Space Cavern near fossil echinoderm projects that I’ve Georgetown. I also spend a little time accumulated over the years that need trying to keep with three grown to be written up before I “really retire”. grandchildren. I stay busy!” Our family is doing fine here in Austin and elsewhere. Wife G.K. retired 21/2 Earle F. McBride writes, “Just years after I did. However, she then after the first of the year The got hired to do some consulting work Rocky Mountain Geology journal for a client during last spring’s Texas Lynton Land writes, “I continue my published my contributions on the Legislative Session. Son David still quest to improve Chesapeake Bay water sedimentology, petrography and lives and works in Austin, so we see quality. Meaningful changes in diagenesis of the Lower Pz clastics him about once a week to help out with agricultural crop fertilization practices that overlie the Precambrian basement yard work and to keep our computers must occur, such as replacing in the area between Durango and and electronics working. Daughter conventional chemical fertilizers with Silverton, CO. I collected the first Diana, the artist of the family, recently slow-release products. Equally samples for this study on Geo 660 in got a full-time job with a graphics important, sewage sludge, poultry litter the 1980s. Some projects move very company in St. Louis, Missouri, and and manure disposed cheaply by land slowly. Stratigraphic and editorial moved there in April; we see her TAKING ON 21ST CENTURY CHALLENGES application must be limited to supply input from Jim Sprinkle was helpful whenever we talk on the phone.” ST the phosphorus needs of the crop, but over the years. The allegedly Cambrian CREATING 21 CENTURY LEADERS no more. Current permissive Ignacio Quartzite is almost certainly regulations favor the waste-producers Devonian. Luigi Folk and I have From the Earth’s core to outer space, research at and guarantee much more nitrogen and started a study of “ferricrete” (iron- The University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of phosphorus pollution than is caused by oxide-cemented sandstones and chemical fertilization. Quantitatively conglomerates) in central Texas. At our Geosciences is advancing the understanding of our meaningless changes, like growing ages (RLF = 91; EFM = 85) progress is world and beyond for the benefit of humankind. more oysters, must not substitute for a bit slow!” changes in crop fertilization practices, as explained in the July 2014 issue of James Sprinkle shares, “I’ve been the “Bay Journal” and doi: 10.1007/ retired as a Professor Emeritus for s10498-014-9226-y. I grow and sell 4 years now, so I’m not doing any fertile (diploid) seed oysters. The more teaching or supervising students, oysters the better, they make great except for serving on one M.S. meals and are good for the ecosystem. Committee in 2014-2015. However, I But they can’t solve the Bay’s nutrient still do research on early echinoderms overload problem. Since retirement, I and Paleozoic marine communities have concluded that scientists must with several co-workers and former actively use their knowledge and graduate students. I usually come positions to contribute toward solving in to the Department 3 days a societal problems. Just having fun doing week and on Sunday afternoons, research and herding students, as I did, and go out to the Non-vertebrate while ignoring the frustrating political Paleontology Laboratory (NPL) at arena, is selfish and unacceptable.” the Pickle Research Center the other 2 weekdays to work on some of my Ernest Lundelius (B.S. ’50) shares, fossil collections and to photograph “Although retired I still go to the specimens. 2015 was the last year Vertebrate Paleontology Lab at Pickle that I did any extensive field work out Research Campus nearly every day. I in our major fossil collecting areas am just finishing a long-term study on in Utah and Nevada, but I’ve made

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WEB JSG.UTEXAS.EDU 120 | Jackson School of Geosciences Campbell, his wife of 37 years. Alan published from the University of he made his home in Crested Butte. Bill MEMORIALS was predeceased by his parents and his Houston by an outside publishing loved football, especially his beloved sister, Cathryn Smith. He is survived by company. Following his employment Sooners, being at the lake, movies, his wife, Linda, who works for his with the Quebec Minister of Mines he fishing and reading. He was renowned former undergraduate institution - worked in the corporate world for 33 for his generosity and his larger-than- Dorothy W. Alcorn Robert L. Bluntzer college, Jean returned to Houston to Trinity, son Callan Andrew Campbell, years, rising to the position of VP in life personality, for which he will always (spouse of the late (B.A. ’60) age 83, begin a teaching career in the Spring daughter Allison Kone Campbell, niece charge of domestic exploration for be remembered. He is survived by his Charles W. Alcorn, passed away on Branch ISD and to raise her sons. Later, Cathryn “Tinka” Watts Langfeld, hydrocarbons of a large American wife, Kristine Stepan Curtis; his three Jr., B.S. ’52) higher December 2, 2016. He she worked with her husband Jess C. nephew David Watts, Jr., and his herd of corporation, heading a staff of roughly biological children: Samantha Winn education advocate and was born in Cuero, Texas Bowman in their insurance business. “livestock,” his favorite term for several 100. Retired in 1985, he formed a family Curtis, Adam Buescher Curtis and community leader, died to Cornelius Sixtus Jean lived in Austin for the last 6 years beloved pets. corporation to carry on his interests in Walter Alexander Curtis; his step- at her home in Victoria on Sunday, Bluntzer and Loraine Tietz Bluntzer. of her life at Brookdale Gaines Ranch oil and gas exploration and raising children Boyd Ryan Stepan (fiancée: February 26, 2017. She was predeceased After he graduated from high school in where she enjoyed the care and Calvin A. Chimene pecans. Calvin also spent his working Lauren), Ashley Stepan Ihemelu by her husband of 45 years, Charles W. Cuero, he served in the U.S. Army and attention she received from the (B.S. ’50) 89, passed years raising three sons with Katie (husband: Ugo), Trevor James Stepan “Chuck” Alcorn, Jr. earned a bachelor’s degree in geology in outstanding staff. Jean is preceded in away on Friday, Chimene, providing them with life skills (wife: Jenny) and his grandchildren, Izu 1960 at the University of Texas. Bob death by her parents, siblings and December 23, 2016. He from dinosaur bone and rock and Amara as well as his nieces and H. Warren Bell (B.S. worked in the oil patch early in his husband. She is survived by her four leaves behind his three identification to floundering to working nephews. He was preceded in death by ’53) died at home on career and then as a groundwater sons Dan W. Jackson III, Todd Johnson, sons, J.B., Andre, and with all types of tools. All three sons his parents Lawrence W. Curtis and December 26, 2016. He geologist for various Texas water Bart Johnson and Matt Johnson. Beau, and eight grandchildren, Daniel, followed their father to the University of Marilyn Buescher Curtis and his was born March 20, agencies for 32 years. After retiring, he Claude A. Campbell Gabrielle, David, Zachary, Beverly, Texas, and shared his passion for Texas brother Robert L. Curtis. 1933, to Daulty and was a hydrogeological consultant for 10 (B.S. ’50) Cooper, Coby, and Daisy. His first wife, football and Austin. He began writing Marzee Bell in the years and was involved in restoring the The Katie Allen Chimene, and his second fiction in 1988 and has published three Kenneth L. Diebel community of Minter, in Lamar County, first water well on the State of Texas Reverend (retired) wife, Ann Carol, both preceded him in volumes of short stories and one novel. (B.S. ’50) died Texas, where he lived throughout his Capitol grounds. Bob was a very Claude Alan Campbell death. A fifth generation Houstonian and He was also an artist, creating charcoal peacefully May 30, youth, graduating Deport High School in dedicated, loving and fun husband for 48 passed away July 13, native Texan, Calvin spent almost all of drawings of fossils. Calvin played 2017, in Austin. 1949. He attended TCU from 1949– years, father, grandfather and friend. He 2017, in San Antonio. his life in and around Houston, Texas. handball and table tennis into his Kenneth was born 1950, then transferred to The University loved Austin, Longhorn football, hunting, He was born in 1927 and had recently The son of Julius and Fannie Chimene, eighties, and won several medals in February 13, 1926, at of Texas at Austin where he earned a cultural activities, fossils, genealogy, celebrated his 90th birthday. Alan was a Calvin grew up in Houston’s Third Ward competition at the local Senior Olympics. home in Meyersville, Texas to Erwin Bachelor of Science in geology in 1953. history and traveling. Bob was very active native San Antonian. He was the and later in West University, where he and Erna Diebel. He was the oldest of Warren worked as an exploration in his children’s and grandchildren’s lives, youngest child of Claude Amos went to Lamar High School. He attended William W. Curtis two brothers. His daddy died of geologist with Union Sulphur in Lake attending countless sporting and school Campbell and Kate Kone Campbell. the University of Texas at age 17, then left (B.A. ’82) age 59, appendicitis when Kenneth was seven. Charles and Superior Oil in New Orleans, events. He was a member of the UT Quest Alan graduated from Thomas Jefferson to join the U.S. Army for World War II. formerly of Austin and His mother never remarried, and she and in 1969 relocated to Houston where Continuing Education Group and Texas High School in San Antonio at the close After serving in the occupation of Japan, Oklahoma City passed struggled valiantly to support and raise he worked for Kilroy Company through Board of Professional Geoscientists. Bob of World War II. He enrolled in Trinity he returned to the University of Texas away on September 19 the two boys with a strong Lutheran 1974. He then took a position with is preceded in death by his wife, Josephine University eventually transferring to where he graduated with a Bachelor of in Crested Butte, CO. sense of values and an unswerving McCormick Oil & Gas where he Bluntzer, and his parents. He is survived The University of Texas at Austin where Science in geology. He then attended the Bill was born on May 22, 1957. He was moral compass. The Diebel family spoke remained until 1978 when he became by his son, Peter Bluntzer, of Austin, he earned a bachelor’s degree in geology University of Houston, where he the youngest son of Lawrence W. Curtis German at home, and Kenneth did not an independent geologist. He was an Texas; daughter and son-in-law, Alice and in 1950. He worked as a petroleum acquired a Master of Science in geology and Marilyn Buescher Curtis. He learn English until he began first grade. independent geologist for the rest of his Joshua Ley, and grandchildren Andrew geologist for Union Producing and then with a minor in Physics. He was selected graduated from Heritage Hall in As a boy Kenneth was active in Boy career. While working in Lake Charles, and Kate, all of Englewood, Colorado. as an independent geologist for several as a member of the SGE, the national Oklahoma City in 1975 and from Scouts and earned the rank of Life he met and married Jeannette Sutter in years, retaining a life-long interest in geology honors fraternity. Some of Southwestern University in Scout, but soon the six-foot six-inch 1956. They have two children, Jean I. Bowman minerals and geological formations, Calvin’s papers on exploration have been Georgetown in 1980 with a degree in redheaded boy was discovered by the Katherine Shipley (husband Tom), and (B.A. ’54) was born in especially those of West Texas, which he published in articles by The Oil & Gas political science. He also earned a degree Cuero High School basketball coach. Brian (partner Michael Cammareri), Houston, Texas on loved. In his 30s, he decided to change Journal, other Exploration periodicals, in geology from The University of Texas Basketball games interfered with Boy grandchildren William and Anne Marie September 5, 1929, to careers and enrolled in Virginia the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology at Austin in 1982. Later in life, he Scouts, so “Red” Diebel switched his Shipley. Warren greatly enjoyed the Agnes Baker Ingram Theological Seminary in Alexandria. and Paleontology, and two separate returned to school and received a focus to become the star center of the outdoors, with a lifelong love of hunting, and Leon Ingram. She After graduating in 1964, he served the Memoirs of the American Association of Masters in Education from Oklahoma Cuero Gobblers basketball team. After fishing, and scuba diving, as well as attended Austin High School where she Episcopal Church in Texas parishes Petroleum Geologists. He has lectured City University. In 1982 he married high school, he attended the University traveling the world and reading was an officer in the Scottish Brigade. including St. Matthews in Edinburg and extensively at AAPG conventions, Elizabeth McAllister and went to work of Texas for a year on a basketball literature. But his greatest joy, devotion After graduation, she earned a Bachelor the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas Houston Geological Society, and as a geologist in Oklahoma City. Later, scholarship and studied chemistry and love were for his wife, children and of Science in geology from The before accepting a position at Deaconess meetings of the Houston Mesozoic he became a pharmaceutical before he was drafted into the Army. grandchildren, who will keep his University of Texas at Austin in 1951. Hospital in St. Louis as a clinical Geologists Group. He was selected to representative for McNeil. That job During World War II, Private First Class memory each day along with surviving She frequently referred to herself as a pastoral education supervisor. He was present one of his papers during the allowed him to move back to Austin Diebel put his German language skills sister Wanda Porterfield and husband proud “tea-sip” and remained a lifelong married to Katherine Elaine McDaniel World Geological Congress in with his family. In 2008, he married and his knowledge of chemistry to good Ray, cousin Waylon Norrell and wife Pat, Longhorn sports fan. She was a member from 1958 to 1972 and the couple had Washington D.C. in 1989. His master’s Kristine Stepan and joyfully added her use as a translator and medic in a sister-in-law Dorothy Mims, his other of Alpha Delta Pi sorority where she two children, Allison and Callan. In thesis in 1952 was the first one three children to his family. Later in life, hospital in Germany. After the War, he relations and many friends. made lifelong friendships. Following 1979, he met and married Linda Crick

122 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 123 returned to UT and finished his degree and husband Bradley Brock of Austin, on June 6, 1949. In 1951 they moved to was on the Shriner golf team that would and Bruce Wayne Lowry. In 1974 he up in Tucson, Arizona. He entered his on the GI bill. After enduring (and daughter Ann Diebel and husband Keith Midland, Texas. They lived in a small travel and play in different parts of the partnered with J.W McFarlane of beloved University of Arizona in 1938, failing) a chemistry lab in the un-air- Lutsch of Houston, grandchildren apartment before building a home on country. He loved to ballroom dance McFarlane Oil Company where he joined the Sigma Nu fraternity, and conditioned basement of the chemistry Alexiy, Rita and Kenny Brock, and East Oak Street where their first son, with his beautiful wife Betty and they managed all phases of drilling, studied Mining Engineering and building one summer, he decided numerous nieces and nephews. Robert Vallee was born. In 1956, the could be seen dancing as members of exploration, production and property Business Administration. He has been chemistry was not for him and (luckily family moved to Omaha when Bob the Ballroom Dance club Bob was a acquisition. Together they developed a an avid Arizona Wildcat for over 80 for us) changed his major to geology. All Dennis Adolph Drake (M.A. ’58) began to work for Northern Natural member of and held numerous offices successful oil producing field in Placedo, years. Clem met Betty Suggett of Ft. his life Kenneth loved to visit the UT 81, of Dallas, Texas, passed away on Gas. While in Omaha they added two with St. Andrews and Trinity Texas. They worked together for many Worth, Texas in 1941, at a Sigma Nu/ campus to see his old college haunts. September 13, 2016. Dennis was born more children to the family, Richard Presbyterian churches in Midland and years discovering and developing oil Chi Omega dance and they married on After earning a B.S. in geology, Kenneth in Beaumont, Texas. He graduated Spear and Gayanne. In 1970, the family First Presbyterian Church in Omaha. and gas wells in south and east Texas. In December 29, 1943. Betty predeceased went to work in Conroe for the Humble from Lamar College and the University was transferred back to Midland. In Bob was also a member of Grace 1977 Thurman and his brother Prentice Clem on September 6, 2011. As with Oil Company (later Exxon). He met the of Texas. Dennis proudly served in Omaha, Bob began a long time Presbyterian Church. Bob was a founder Odell Geddie, formed Geddie Oil Co. many college ROTC cadets at the time, love of his life, Nita Samuel, at the the Army National Guard. He was association with the Boy Scouts when of the St. Andrews Mission and Clinic. where they worked together on many in May of 1942, Clem was inducted into Conroe First United Methodist Church a petroleum geologist. His 50-year his two sons joined Cub Scouts. He took Bob is preceded in death by his parents, oil and gas ventures until Prentice died the United States Army Air Corps as a where she was the organist. They soon career in the exploration for oil and gas on many roles as a scout leader, merit Robert Byron Sr. and Gertrude Spear in 1991. In 1979, McFarlane Oil Second Lieutenant. He served as Head of married and had two girls, Kay and took him to Louisiana offshore, and badge counselor and was also a leader of Gaines and by his youngest son, Richard Company merged with Global Natural the Air Corps Supply stationed at Ann. Kenneth had a very successful the Texas Gulf Coast on and offshore. the adult scout leaders, helping to train Spear Gaines. He is survived by his wife Resources in Houston where Thurman Boling Field - Washington D.C. and at career as an exploration geologist and Dennis also traveled to China for oil them to train the boys. Bob earned the Betty Land Gaines, his son Robert worked till 1985 when he moved to La Guardia Field - New York City. While manager with Exxon, and the family and gas study and research. He often highest Scouting award for an adult Vallee Gaines and wife Edellweiss; his Austin. There he worked for Larry in New York, his fondest memory was traveled all over the world, living in spoke of his goal to leave much energy leader, the Silver Beaver award. Bob daughter Gayanne Bett and husband Barnes Petroleum for 10 years while dancing with Betty to Guy Lombardo at Houston, Tyler, Dallas, Libya, London for the future generation. He served as continued in scouting for more than 50 Tom and their three children, Sarah, also continuing his work with Geddie the Roosevelt Grill. One of Clem’s and Norway. Ken and Nita made many Vice President of Exploration for Strata years helping boys learn the ways of Tommy and Rachel Bett. Oil Company. During this time he primary duties in the Air Corps was the lifelong friends through Exxon. Ken Energy-Armco Steel and worked for scouting. Professionally, Bob was a helped develop several new discoveries responsibility for the control and loved to play the guitar and was well other companies. Dennis retired from geologist and petroleum engineer. In the Thurman B. Geddie and one major gas field. Thurman loved maintenance of President Truman’s known for the song parodies honoring Devon Energy Houston. His survivors mid-60s he received his Professional (B.S. ’45) died his profession and continued to work airplane, as well as being a supervisor coworkers. Kenneth retired and moved are his wife of 56 years, two children, Engineer license. He was awarded the November 5 at his home until just a few months before his death. over 200 civilians and 16 enlisted men. home to Conroe in the early 1980’s. He four grandchildren and a sister. Pioneer Award by the West Texas in Austin surrounded Thurman was predeceased by his He ended his military service as a was a very active member of Conroe Geological Society in 2005. He retired by his family after a parents Emma Elizabeth and James Captain in January 1946. After the war, First Presbyterian Church, where he Robert B. Gaines in 1988. Bob was a member of the long battle with Prentice Geddie, his daughter, Carey Clem entered graduate school at The attended Sunday school, delivered Meals (B.S. ’49, M.A. ’51) Downtown Midland Lions Club and sarcoma cancer. He celebrated his 95th Leigh Chastain, and his brother Prentice University of Texas at Austin and on Wheels, and worked on many Habitat passed away peacefully won the Jack Welch Fellow Award for birthday just days prior to his death. He Odell. He was a member of University graduated in 1948, number one in his for Humanity houses. He also greatly in his home in Midland, service to Texas Lions Camp for was born in Grand Saline, Texas to Avenue Church of Christ, The American class with a master’s degree in geology. enjoyed “guitaring” with a group of Texas on November 27, Crippled Children. He was a 32nd- Emma Elizabeth Riggs Geddie and Association of Petroleum Geologist, On March 1, 1948, Clem rode the train musicians that met at the Montgomery 2016. “Bob” Gaines was degree mason and received the honorary James Prentice Geddie. He attended high Houston Geological Society, and the from Ft. Worth to Midland to report to County Administration Building. At the born in Fort Worth on February 9, 1923, Red Hat award. His love for children school in Grand Saline and entered The Society of Independent Professional work with Stanolind Oil and Gas. In age of 80, he would go and entertain to Robert Byron Gaines Sr. and and devotion to those with hardships University of Texas at Austin in 1940, Earth Scientists (SIPES). He is survived September of 1950, Clem went to work with his guitar at the “old folks’ home.” Gertrude Spear. Eleven years later an were keen driving forces in Bob’s life. graduating in 1945 with a B.S. degree in by his wife, Beverly, his children, April for Anderson Pritchard, and then in Ken was always up for a challenge. He event occurred that would change Bob’s Bob became a Shriner. As a Shriner he geology. There he met Sharon Haden and husband Robert Watson, Tony and January 1954, became an independent was very proud of his linguistic abilities life forever when he was run over by a rose through the ranks and was the Smith of McAllen, Texas and they were wife Teresa Geddie, Susan and husband geologist and oil and gas operator. Clem and became fluent in Norwegian and truck that crushed his right leg. He Potentate of the Suez Shrine club in married in 1945. Together they had Steve O’Brien, stepdaughter, Linda served as the Chairman of the Society of French in addition to the German and would spend the next two years in a 2001-2002. He also served on the Board three children, Sharon April, Carey Lowry, stepson, Bruce and wife Pam Independent Geologist in 1968 and English he grew up speaking. He jogged wheel chair and undergo numerous of Directors for the Shrine Hospital in Leigh, and James Anthony. He began his Lowry and son-in-law, Steve Chastain. served on The University of Texas a minimum of three miles every surgeries that would ultimately leave Houston, Texas. Bob loved sports. As his career at Barnsdall Oil Company in He leaves a legacy of 15 grandchildren, Geological Foundation in Austin for morning and often bragged that he had that leg 3 inches shorter then his left children grew he naturally became a Corpus Christi in 1945 near the end of 19 great grandchildren, and 4 great- seven years (1970-1977). Clem served gone much further. Kenneth never leg. While perhaps this was a disability, coach, first as a Little League coach for WWII. Barnsdall transferred Thurman great grandchildren. Thurman loved his as a director of Midland Commercial faltered in his belief in the saving grace it was never a handicap. Bob became a the boys then as a softball coach for his to Lake Charles, LA in 1950, where he family, his friends, and the Texas Bank & Trust from 1970 to 1984. In of God the father and his son Jesus cheerleader at Arlington Heights High daughter. He also had a rule that every served as head geologist overseeing Longhorns. He attended nearly every 2015, he was awarded the Pioneer Christ. His well-worn Bible provided School. After graduation he attended the child no matter their level of talent exploration and on-site drilling. home football game at Memorial Award with Midland Geological Society. him with comfort and wisdom all his University of Texas where he earned would get to play in the game. Thurman moved to Houston in 1951 Stadium for over 60 years. Clem’s interest in the stock market life, and his belief in his Lord was a Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts Sometimes that didn’t work for the where he partnered with Hedley & dominated his time from 1990 on. All guiding principal upon which he degrees in geology. While in school, he team’s advantage, but Bob thought that Jordan Oil & Gas for many years as an Clement “Clem” E. children and grandchildren had to know measured all his actions and decisions. took up fencing and became the captain it was more important that the team independent geologist. In 1965, George (B.A. ’47, daily how GE closed. Clem’s love of Ken was preceded in death by his of the university fencing team. He was a learn to live with all of their advantages Thurman married Beverly Lowry of M.A. ’48), a Midlander history, travel, sports, and old movies parents, his brother Dr. Burton E. member of the Delta Sigma Phi and disadvantages. Bob loved to hunt Houston and together they had one since 1948, passed away was ingrained into his two children, Diebel, and his beloved wife Nita. He is Fraternity. At the university, Bob met and fish and took the family on child, Susan Elizabeth. Beverly brought March 22, 2017. An Meredith and Kenn, and his six survived by daughter Kay Diebel Brock his wife, Betty Land. They were married numerous trips. He also played golf and two children to the marriage, Linda Kay only child, Clem grew grandchildren. Clem’s children and

124 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 125 grandchildren have all been part of the New Mexico at the age of 87. Ed was thought the world of him. His brilliant wide range of participants at the Aspen Dean L. Leyerly for the next 20 years as an independent Boston Red Sox Fan Club, because of born in Hillsboro, Texas, where he mind, gracious spirit and favorite Institute and St. Benedict’s Monastery (B.S. ’50) 93, of geologist. During this time, he served as Clem’s unwavering support since 1936, spent the first five years of his life. The expressions will also be remembered in Snowmass. He was passionate about Odessa, Texas passed the treasurer and later as the president in spite of the curse of the Bambino. stock market crash of October 1929 with love by his nieces and nephews, fly fishing and taught this art to his away on November 9, of the Corpus Christi Geological Society What a joyous day for Clem when the set the stage for his Great Depression who called him Uncle Gordy and his children and grandchildren on the 2016. Dean was born in and the Petroleum Data Service. Cliff curse was broken. Clem hosted multiple childhood. “But this childhood was many, many friends, including the Roaring Fork River in his beloved Caldwell, Kansas on was active in his sons’ Boy Scout troop, grandchildren, Meredith, and Kenn to wonderful,” he said, “and any notion of magnificent caregivers he knew at the Colorado. Dinner with family and June 8, 1923 to C.E. and Maude Leyerly. having been initiated into the Order of relish in person three World Series the Depression came much later.” After Presbyterian Home, who called him friends was a priority. He and Judy were He graduated from Caldwell High the Arrow at the same time as his son, wins. Clem is survived by two children, eight years in Tyler, Ed’s family moved Coach. The Rev. Dr. Gordon Ingram was particularly fond of sitting outside at school and he married Margy Lou Ford. He immensely enjoyed hunting Meredith and husband Ed of New to Dallas, where he attended Highland born on April 9, 1925 in La Porte, Hackney’s on Harms. A few of his Crumbliss on June 8, 1941, and soon and many good times were spent with Mexico and Kenn and wife Tricia of Park High School, from which he Indiana. He grew up in Elkhart, Indiana, memorable and oft-used expressions: after entered the USAAF, where he friends and relatives in pursuit of game. Dallas; grandchildren, Kenneth George graduated at 15. In the autumn of 1945, where in high school he was not only a “You are the best of the best!”; “Take served as a radio operator and waist Cliff was also active in several other II and wife Carolyn, and great- Ed enrolled at Southern Methodist state championship center for the what the course gives you”; “Hook ’em gunner. During Dean’s service to this businesses; he ran a cattle ranch in grandchildren, Kenneth III and John, of University, where he met Joan Lorraine basketball team, but also played violin Horns”; and the many phrases he quoted country, he was shot down in combat McMullen County, Texas for many Chevy Chase, Maryland, Patrick George Palmer, whom he married three days in the orchestra. In later years, listening from his brother Boots, such as “Not too and became a POW. He was awarded the years. He was also very proud of his and wife Elizabeth, Clement George and after graduating from SMU in 1949. to classical music became his favorite shabby,” and “Everybody be where they Purple Heart, and other medals of board position and work with the wife Molly, Elizabeth Gosselin and Obtaining a Master of Arts in geology pastime, whether it be sitting in his VIP want to be.” Gordon was a wonderful honor. Upon returning home, he McMullen County State Bank. Cliff is husband Chase, all residing in Dallas, from the University of Texas at Austin, chair listening to the Grant Park sermon writer and always showed up continued his education to receive a preceded in death by his parents. He is Edward Tinsley IV and wife Kelly, and he then embarked on a career in oil and Orchestra in Millennium Park, Friday when and where he was most needed. B.A. degree from The University of survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Ede Booth and husband Morgan; gas spanning seven decades, based first afternoon concerts at The Chicago Larger than life and truly one of a kind. Texas. Dean began a 35 year career with Elsie (Wheeler) McTee; sons, Clifford great-grandchildren Lawler and Scarlett, in Corpus Christi, where his three sons Symphony, concerts on the lawn at Hughes Tool Company in 1945. At the “Ford” R. McTee, III and wife Barbara of Charles R. Jones all residing in Houston. were born, then Dallas and McKinney, Ravinia or listening to his vast time of his retirement, he was District Austin and Charles Dewey McTee and (B.S. ’50) and finally Taos, where Ed moved with collection of CDs. He attended DePauw died Zone Manager in Midland, Texas. Dean wife Kimberley of San Antonio; Conley Ray Goodrum (B.A. ’57) Joan in 1979 and spent many happy University, was appointed to the U.S. peacefully on Nov. 29, was preceded in death by his wife of 64 daughter, Shelly Marie McTee and fiancé was born on October 24, 1934 and years, making numerous good friends. Naval Academy, and graduated from The 2016, in Austin at the years, Margy, his daughter Dana Gibbs Jay Miller of Phoenix, Arizona and passed away on February 9, 2017. He is survived by son Lane Hughston, University of Texas at Austin. He played age of 94 years. Charles Copeland and his sister June Strevel. He brother, Ronald James McTee of Spring Conley was a resident of Baytown, son Mark Hughston and his wife Marla left end for the Longhorns and shared a was born to Charles F. is survived by his wife, Mickey; his Branch, Texas. Cliff is also survived by Texas at the time of passing. Conley Hughston, son Thomas Hughston, dorm room with Tom Landry. From Jones and his wife, Mary Lee Ila daughter Jo; grandson Kenny; his four grandchildren, Taylor Marie attended college at The University of granddaughter Katherine Kennedy and 1950-1955, he was a corporate financial Sigmon, in Fort Worth. He attended granddaughter KaDee, all of Midland McTee Parsons and husband Rob, Texas at Austin and was a longtime her husband Walter Kennedy, grandson officer for a natural gas pipeline Paschal High School. He enlisted as a and Odessa, and sister Lois Morris of Clifford Ray McTee, IV, 1st Lt. Blake Longhorn fan. Christopher Hughston and his fiancé company. In 1955, he was called to the technical sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Wichita, Kansas. Daniel McTee and Michaela Elizabeth Bridget Jernigan, grandsons Benjamin ministry and served as student pastor at Force 1942–1945. He flew 30 bombing McTee and great granddaughter, Zella Joanne W. Harvard (spouse of H. Hughston and Parker Hughston, and the Fourth Presbyterian Church in missions in B-24s over France and Clifford R. McTee Marie Parsons. Lee Harvard, B.A. ’55) passed away great-grandson Wyatt Kennedy. He Chicago while attending McCormick Germany during World War II. After (B.S. ’54) was born on Herbert G. Mills on Thursday, April 20, 2017. Joanne was was preceded in death by his wife Theological Seminary. In 1958, Gordon discharge, he attended Texas Christian September 1, 1933, and (friend and donor to a resident of Roswell, New Mexico at Joan Palmer Hughston, father Thomas married Judy Keig. They served the University and University of Texas died on December 8, the Jackson School) the time of passing. She attended The Dudley Hughston Sr, mother Margaret following Presbyterian churches: earning a Bachelor of Science in 2016, at the age of 83. University of Texas in Austin and was West Hughston, brother Thomas Dudley Glenwood Springs, CO; Wheaton, IL; geology. His profession was exploration He was born in Houston 86, passed away married to Lee Harvard. Hughston Jr. and sister-in-law Betty Bensenville, IL and Marquette, petroleum geology working for Cities to Clifford Ray McTee, Sr. and Gladys November 22, 2016, in Briggs Hughston. Michigan. He was very proud of being Service Oil Co. for 27 years and later Lucille (Harris) McTee. Cliff had a degree San Antonio. Born Robert S. Houston (B.A. ’50) was “let go” from the church in Wheaton in Texas Pacific Oil Co. and Davis Oil Co. and postgraduate work in geology from February 20, 1930, in San Antonio, to Gordon L. Ingram born on August 18, 1924, and passed 1965 for preaching against housing He met the love of his life and married The University of Texas at Austin, where Eben Herbert Mills and Rose Mangold (B.A. ’49) away on December 15, 2016. Robert 92, of discrimination and in favor of Martin Bettye LaRue Johnson in June 1947. he belonged to Acacia Fraternity. He Mills, he was preceded in death by his was a resident of West Boylston, Evanston, died Luther King’s civil rights activism. They had three daughters. They enjoyed worked for Tidewater Oil and Gas parents, his sister Rose Ann Northway, Massachusetts at the time of his passing. peacefully on May 5, Finding a more open minded raising cattle, golfing and travel. Company as an exploration geologist. and brother Eben Mangold Mills. He graduated from the University of 2017. He is survived by congregation in Bensenville, the church Charles was preceded in death by his He also worked in Houston for both Herbert graduated from Alamo Heights Texas and later earned a master’s degree his beloved wife of 59 embarked on many amazing projects for wife, Bettye, in 2012 and his daughter, Midwest Oil and Gas Company and High School in 1947 where he played from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. years, Judy Ingram. He was the those in need. They included a Fran Norwood, in 2016. He is survived International Nuclear Corporation. In football and was president of his class. He served in the United States Navy cherished son of the late Raymond and preschool, a well-baby clinic, an adult by his daughters, Claire Hinkle of 1970 he moved his family to Corpus In 1951 he was a proud graduate of during World War II. He was married Glennah Ingram; loving brother of the health care clinic and the Home Kennesaw, Ga., and Charla Jones of Christi. There he ran the exploration Texas A&M where he earned his B.S. in to Blanche. late Boots (Betty Lou) Ingram and Assistance Foundation which helped 18 Driftwood; and his grandsons, Carl and department for Texas Oil and Gas. He geological engineering. His experience Kenny (Betty Kay) Ingram; adored Mexican immigrant families come to Kirt Hinkle of Atlanta, and Bradford enjoyed a stellar reputation and was in the Corps of Cadets was quite Edward W. Hughston (M.A. ’50) father of Betsy (Gary) Ingram, Kay own their own homes. He received his Norwood of Houston and Clifton widely known and respected in the memorable and very formative. He was Long-time Dallas resident Edward (Matt) Frank, Margaret Ingram, and Doctor of Ministry degree in 1982, then Norwood of Tyler. South Texas Oil and Gas community. a Ross Volunteer and Commander of the Wallace Hughston died peacefully on Michael (Rosina) Park Ingram. He is founded the Institute for a Theological After four years, he opened his own Armor-Engineer Regiment. Following May 28, 2017, at his home in Taos, survived by six grandchildren who Future. He conducted seminars for a office and practiced petroleum geology two years of service in the U.S. Army,

126 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 127 he worked for Exxon Company USA He had a passion for hunting and fishing by the American Association of Earl W. Shahan (B.S. ’56) was born Donald J. Stanley an avid Texas Longhorn fan throughout which took him from various South and most enjoyed wading along the Petroleum Geologists. He was published on April 11, 1930, and passed away on (B.A. ’55) died in his his life. He then worked for the State of Texas towns to New Orleans, New York shoreline or sitting in a deer stand in the in many scientific journals, with his July 16, 2017. Earl was a resident of San sleep December 20, Texas Land Office for six years. His love City and ultimately back to Houston. early morning hours. Josh was preceded latest publication in the Journal of Angelo, Texas at the time of passing. He 2016, after a long and compassion for people with special After retirement in 1987, he and his in death by his parents, his wife Diana Sedimentary Research 2006. He served then went to the University of Texas and illness. He was born in needs led him to work with Goodwill wife formed Mills Exploration. Herbert and his son Robert Hale Oden. He is as president of the Utah Geological after graduating, started his career as a Wichita, Kansas on Industries in Austin where he became was a member of the Houston survived by his daughter Lee Michelle Society and Intermountain Association geologist with Exxon Co., U.S.A. Earl September 4, 1930, to Hebert M. and the Executive Director for 11 years. Geological Society, the AAPG and Gibson and grandson Joseph Hale Gibson. of Petroleum Geologists. He and Nancy served in the Army during the Korean Anne Stanley. He moved to Dallas as an Carroll, Dorothy and children then SIPES. He was an active member of St. Huff divorced in 1969. In 1970, John War at Ft. Sill, OK from 1948 to 1951. infant. He grew up in Highland Park, moved west living in San Angelo, John C. Osmond John Vianney Catholic Church in married June Marie Brown and gained attended Holy Trinity School, and Blackwell, and then Sweetwater. (B.S. ’47) Houston for 43 years. In addition to was born in stepdaughters Claudia Brown, Vicki Frederick C. Smyth graduated from Jesuit High School in Throughout this chapter in life, Carroll being a member of the Knights of Germantown, Al-hamoodah, stepson Fred Brown, and (B.S. ’47) 91, died 1947. He remained lifelong friends with continued to work on different Columbus, he found great satisfaction in Philadelphia, PA. As a by adoption another son, Kirk Osmond. April 10, 2017, at home five Jesuit men, “The Brotherhood.” They programs and projects to develop volunteering in various ways through boy he loved exploring John and June then moved to Tiburon, with his son Frank by his were ‘bros’ 70 years before the current business opportunities in which to his parish and community. Of particular the woods and ponds California where he served as Vice side. Born May 18, 1925, craze. Don, an ATO was graduated from teach and employ people with special note was his work with the parish near his house. His mother often said he President of PG&E. After a move to in Victoria, Texas, he was the University of Texas with a degree in needs. In 1979, Carroll and Dorothy school board of St. Francis of Assisi would come home from exploring Denver, he resumed being an independent the second of three sons born to W. O. geology in 1952. He learned the oil opened the first private residential care Catholic School, one of Houston’s inner covered with mud and a couple of consultant until his retirement at age Smyth and Norma Leuschner Smyth. He business from the ground up, starting facility in the State of Texas for city Catholic schools. Dedicated to his turtles in his pocket. His favorite saying 90. John always liked the ocean and the was preceded in death by his parents and with his father’s drilling company. In individuals with special needs in family, he was available to help was “Like a herd of purple turtles in a beach. Some of his favorite stories were his two brothers W. O. Smyth, Jr. and later years, he was a real estate broker Sweetwater. This program was owned whenever and wherever needed. mud hole.” He and his father were close; of taking a toy ship with his parents and George H. Smyth as well as his wife of and investor. He married Linda Sargent and operated by Carroll and Dorothy Herbert is survived by wife, Martha they spent hours looking for mineral playing with his sister Bea in the waves. 55 years, Margaret Mary Heye Smyth. in 1985. Don suffered a severe stroke in from 1979 until 2001. During that time Bybee Mills; children Ruth and husband specimens in the nonworking mines He loved to body surf in Newport Fred was one of the last members of the 1999. The last 17 years of his life, he it grew to several different training and Mark Oordt, Herbert G. Mills, Jr., wife and hillsides of Pennsylvania, Beach, California on annual vacations. greatest generation. He served his country showed us how to gracefully accept employment opportunities for these Cindy, and Peter B. Mills and wife displaying those in a mineral case and He loved sailing and would rent in WWII as a navigator of B-24 bombers physical limitations. He is preceded in residents. Later in life Carroll earned a Cheryl; grandchildren Andrew, Martha trading them with the Smithsonian sailboats when on vacation. He also when he was assigned to the 767th Bomb death by his parents, his wife Linda, and Bachelor of Social Work from Abilene Rose, Carol, Ellen and Catherine Oordt; Institute. From those experiences he liked playing tennis and played for most Squadron 461st Bomb Group, Foggia his sister Ann Stanley. He is survived by Christian University in Abilene, Texas. Anne Marie, Christopher and wife developed his love of geology and his of his life. He was always quick with a Main, Italy. On December 17, 1944, his his sister Peggy Gormley, and brothers He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Andrea, Molly and Matthew Mills; decision to be a geologist. He studied joke and a smile to make those around plane came under enemy fire. Rather than Herb Stanley of Midland and Edward Stroman of Sweetwater, Texas and four Alissa Varga and Josef Varga, wife Sarah geology at The University of Texas at him feel good and laugh. John and June parachute to safety the uninjured crew Stanley of Dallas. Also surviving are his children; Brent Stroman and Cindi of and children Charlotte and Landon; and Austin, but his studies were interrupted both loved to travel. Some of their members decided to land the plane in stepchildren Lydia Dean and John Waco, Texas; Scott Stroman and Julie of numerous nieces and nephews. by WWII. He served in the U.S. Army, favorite vacations were taking cruises to order to try and save the crew members Sargent, and 14 nieces and nephews. Sweetwater, Texas; Pam Stroman and Company C, 410th Infantry Regiment, Europe, Greece, and Alaska. We will all who had been injured in the attack. The Cecile of Austin; Kirk Stroman of Josh W. Oden (B.S. 103rd Division 1943–1945 in the U.S. miss him a great deal. John was plane and crew crashed-landed in enemy Carroll E. Stroman Sweetwater, Texas; five grandchildren: ’56, M.A. ’58) age 86, and Europe. After the war, John preceded in death by his parents, Eva territory. Fred was captured and became a (M.A. ’58) age 86, of Stephanie and Nick Depauw of Boston; of Corpus Christi returned to the University of Texas and Buckman and John Chambers Osmond, POW until his release in May 1945 when Sweetwater, Texas, Kyle Stroman of Austin; Brett Stroman passed away Sunday, earned a Bachelor of Science in geology Sr. and by his wife, June Marie. He is the European conflict ended. He was passed away on and Tana of Midland, Texas; Aaron April 23, 2017. Josh was in 1947. He was President of the Phi survived by his sister, Beatrice Millar, awarded three Bronze Stars and the Air September 9, 2016, at Stroman and Becky of Lubbock, Texas; born July 26, 1929, to Delta Theta fraternity. John married his sons, his stepson, his stepdaughters, Medal and has a Purple Heart pending. Hendrick Medical and Cory Stroman and Ashley of Lora Lee and Wm Hale Oden who Nancy Huff, a fellow UT graduate, in and his grandchildren: Elise Thomas, Upon his return to the United States, Fred Center in Abilene, Texas. Carroll was Sweetwater, Texas; four great preceded him in death. Josh graduated Wichita Falls, Texas and moved to Janeen Hathcock, Ethan Cardwell, enrolled at The University of Texas at born on April 28, 1930, in Hylton, Texas grandchildren and one on the way; his from Tarleton High School in 1944 and Cheyenne, Wyoming where he earned Devin Dolphin, Leila Al-Hamoodah, Austin where he met the love of his life, to Roy and Grace (Campbell) Stroman. brother Pat Stroman and Patricia of moved to Austin to begin school at the his Masters of Science in geology from Tiffany Osmond, John Wilson Osmond, Margie. In 1948 he graduated with a He had been a resident of Sweetwater Waco, Texas; numerous nieces and University of Texas. He left Austin to the University of Wyoming. They then John Alan Osmond. Also surviving are degree in geology. He and Margie married for over 50 years. He married the love of nephews; and dear friends Michael and join the Army in 1950 and proudly moved to New York where his son nine great-grandchildren. that same year. Fred spent his career with his life, Dorothy Farley, on April 3, Dustin Hammit and their family of served in the Korean War earning the Robert N. Osmond was born and he Sun Oil Company before retiring in 1985. 1953, in Sweetwater, Texas. He was a Sweetwater, Texas. Carroll was Calvin G. Percy (B.S. ’48) rank of 1st Lieutenant. In 1956, he was received his doctorate in geology from was Together he and Margie raised their longtime member of First Presbyterian preceded in death by his parents, Roy honorably discharged and completed Columbia University. He and Nancy born on November 10, 1926, and passed family until her death in 2003. Fred was Church in Sweetwater where he served and Grace Stroman of Sweetwater. both his bachelors and master’s in made their home in Salt Lake City away on January 25, 2017. Calvin was full of life and loved his Colorado cabin as an Elder. Carroll was a U.S. Air Force Hal S. Stubblefield geology at UT. August 3, 1956, he where he worked for Gulf Oil Company a resident of Georgetown, Texas at the getaway and his dog, Boone. He is veteran serving in Japan during the (B.A. ’54) married Diana Etchison. He began work until he became an independent time of his passing. Calvin attended survived by his five children Patricia Sue, Korean War. After his service, Carroll 84, passed as a geologist for Humble Oil Company consultant. In 1965 John traveled grade school in Jonah Calvin was James Scott (Audrey), Michael (Kathy), lived in Austin from 1953 to 1978. In away January 14, 2017, in 1958 subsequently worked for J3 Oil throughout the U.S. as a lecturer and graduated from Georgetown High School Frank (Ellen), and Robert (Angela) as well Austin, Carroll and Dorothy raised their in Kingwood, Texas. Company and Winn Exploration recognized expert on the geology of the in the class of 1944. Calvin served in the as six grandchildren: Penny, Paige, four children while Carroll attended the Hal’s career included ultimately retiring in 1995 and Uintah Basin for the Geological Navy from 1944 to 1946 and again from Heather, Marie, Megan and Philip. He also University of Texas and graduated with working for GSI, returning with Diana to Corpus Christi. Distinguished Lecture Series presented 1952 to 1954. He was married to Veta. has six great-grandchildren. a B.S. in geology. Carroll continued to be Occidental Petroleum Co, and retiring

128 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 129 from Mosbacher Energy in 1997. Hal T. J. “Tommy” by his wife, Marilyn Wheeler Waggoner, husband Edgar Paz, Erin and her from Fort Stockton to Pecos, and finally Abilene Christian College. She was was born to Ross and Zella Jo Waggoner (B.A. ’57) and his children, T. J. “Jeff” Waggoner, IV, husband Alex Denton, Andrew, Ryan San Angelo. He moved to Houston in married to Charles Freeman Word. Stubblefield in Electra, Texas. He met passed away peacefully his daughters, Jill Louise Waggoner and and Tyler Fonzi, Brandy and her husband 1959 and joined the United States Vestal “Pappy” the love of his life, Barbara Muir Bays in Wichita Falls, Texas, Amy Jeannette Waggoner, his Jason Pinkham, Bobby and Billy Isbell. Geological Survey, where he continued Yeats (B.S. ’58) at Church Sunday School in Lake on June 20, 2017 at the granddaughter, Jamie Wheeler Great Grandchildren: Philip and Archer to research and publish reports often Charles, LA and they were married in age of 83. Tommy was Waggoner, as well as his beloved dog, Paz, Ashley and Sean Pinkham. cited in the study of Texas public passed away peacefully 1956. They were blessed with three born on March 6, 1934, in Wichita Falls Clover. He is also survived by his ground water supply. In 1972, he took a in his sleep on July 28, John B. Wesselman children, Susan Gail in 1959, Amy to Jane and T.J. Waggoner, Jr. and was brother John Stephens Waggoner and new position within the USGS to study 2017. He was a veteran (B.A. ’54) Lynn in 1961 and Stuart Hal in 1965. the grandson of Wichita County wife Elizabeth “Betsy” Denman died the feasibility of tapping into the serving in the Navy Hal was employed as a supervisor with pioneers, Mary and Jeff Waggoner. He Waggoner as well as his sister, Judy September 6, 2016 at geothermal layer of the earth to produce during World War II, an Antarctic GSI from 1954 to 1969, then in was a graduate of Wichita Falls High Waggoner Lambert. He also had many Broadmoor at Creekside energy. This required a move to Bay explorer, and a professor of geology at exploration with Occidental Petroleum School and an Eagle Scout with Troop 1. loving and caring nieces and nephews Park in The Woodlands Saint Louis, Miss., where John retired in Texas Tech. Pappy was born in Fort Co in Houston from 1969 to 1980, Tommy was a member of the Kappa who doted on him and brought much at the age of 88. He was 1983. After John retired, his family built Worth in 1919, and later moved to the followed by his position as V.P. of Sigma fraternity at both Southern joy to his life. born in Moberly, Mo. on October 21, a new home in the Sam Houston Rio Grande Valley where he grew up. Exploration with Mosbacher Energy in Methodist University and then The 1927, the son of Irene and Bernard National Forest, west of New Waverly. He discontinued his studies at the William Edward Houston from 1980 to 1997 until his University of Texas at Austin. He Wesselman. He is preceded in death by John and his family cleared some of the University of Texas to enlist in the Navy Watkins (B.A. ’54) retirement. Hal is preceded in death by graduated from UT with a Bachelor of his parents and his wife of more than forest, making way for space to grow after Pearl Harbor. Stationed in New his daughter, Amy and his brother Joe Science in geology. Tommy married the passed on November 15, 60 years, Pauline Wesselman, who died blueberries, Christmas trees, and catfish, Orleans between tours of duty in the Stubblefield. Hal is survived by wife love of his life, Marilyn Wheeler 2016, to be with our July 7, 2016. He was the eldest of seven before he focused on his favorite Pacific, he met his future wife, Ouida Barbara Bays Stubblefield; daughter, Waggoner, on June 23, 1956. Subsequent Lord at the age of 85. He siblings, with three brothers and three endeavor, raising grandchildren. As the Mae. After the war, they moved to Susan Gail Laible (Jim) and son Stuart to his graduation, he served in the was born and raised in sisters, Vivian, Roy, Jean, Patricia, last of John and Pauline’s eight children Austin where Pappy completed his Hal Stubblefield; grandchildren, Chad United States Air Force. Upon discharge, the Dallas area and known by all as Ed. Donald, and Robert. He grew up in left home, the forest home became a degree in geology and later moved to Francis, Kathryn Brewer, Conner he was a geologist with the Bridwell Oil While attending the University of Texas Salisbury, Mo., where his family favorite gathering spot for children, Lubbock to complete his master’s Francis, Martha Bea Francis, Rebecca Company in Wichita Falls until moving at Arlington, he met Clydene Gartman operated three grocery stores, and he grandchildren, and great grandchildren. degree. As a professor of geology, he Francis, Henry Francis, Erica Laible with his family to Dallas in 1969. There, and was married on May 29, 1951. He attended St. Joseph’s School through Family gatherings included work in the taught the freshmen classes, mineralogy and Miranda Laible. he was the founder and chairman of the achieved a bachelor’s degree in geology eighth grade. He later attended public forest, hearty meals, the occasional and ran the geology labs. During his board of Trans-Western Exploration from The University of Texas at Austin. high school briefly until his family fireworks display, and, of course, tenure, he participated in three Texas Don E. Wade (M.A. ’54) died Company. He was a member of the Ed and Clydene raised five strong and moved to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where legendary bonfires. In retirement, John Tech expeditions to Antarctica, mapping peacefully on Wednesday, October 19, Salesmanship Club of Dallas, Highland independent children. Ed felt it was very his father trained pilots for the U.S Air and Pauline traveled across the nation areas of the Shackleton and Beardmore 2016, at the age of 85. Surrounded by Park Presbyterian Church, the Dallas important to not only be loving and kind, Force. He graduated with honors from and to countries on four continents to Glaciers. Yeats Glacier is named for him. his family and friends, he decided he Country Club and the North Texas Oil but to lead his family by setting an St. Mary’s High School in Cape keep up with adult children working in Ouida passed away in 2003. He is was unable to live through another example for them to follow. He enjoyed Girardeau and enlisted in the U.S. Army survived by his son Austin, daughter-in- and Gas Association. Upon his Australia, Japan, South America, presidential debate. After a life of camping,sailing, hunting, fishing and shortly after graduation. He served in law Nina, grandson Tyler, and nephew, retirement in 1994, Tommy and England, and elsewhere. John and grand adventure, filled with laughter traveling with his family and friends, he Japan with the Allied occupation forces Robert Haynes. Marilyn moved from Dallas to Barton Pauline were members of St. Joseph and shenanigans, this world-class man was also a big sports fan and liked to and was placed in charge of a Creek Lakeside in Spicewood, Texas, Catholic Church in New Waverly for left us all to ponder why we don’t eat watch his Longhorns and the Dallas commissary as a result of his family and then in 2002 they moved again to more than 30 years. He is survived by more dessert. His life was made better Cowboys. Ed & Clydene settled in grocery experience. He returned from Researcher Bigfork, Montana. In 2015, Tommy and his eight children: Francis Wesselman by the love of his wife, Mariah Wade, Duncanville and then Cedar Hill both military service to find his family had Marilyn’s journey came full circle when of Palmer, Texas; Catherine Neff of and together they created a love story just south of the Dallas area. Ed owned moved to Palacios, Texas, to begin a they moved back to Wichita Falls. Corinth, Miss.; William Wesselman of more passionate than any best selling and operated Acme Rubber Stamp Co. in cattle and farming operation. He soon Tommy was grateful to be back in North Knoxville, Tenn.; Carol Gaytan of Nicholas Sparks novel. Don traveled Dallas, which has remained within the went to work as an oilfield roughneck Texas, surrounded by family and Angleton, Texas; Alice Wesselman of the world as a successful geologist, and family. Ed and Clydene retired to Austin, throughout southern and eastern Texas. lifelong friends. Tommy and Marilyn Greensboro, N.C.; Michael Wesselman upon retirement decided he needed for 10 years during this time they bought He later enrolled at The University of traveled the world and had many of Montgomery; Timothy Wesselman of a hobby and became a lawyer. A man an Airstream and continued to travel. Texas, where he studied geology and adventures together in their 60+ years Albany, Ga.; and James Wesselman of famous for his wit, bad jokes and Clydene is very thankful for all her met his future wife, Pauline Anna of marriage. He was an avid sportsman West Columbia; 10 grandchildren; and endless doodling on every piece of family and friends, especially those in Paulissen of Austin. He graduated from who loved hunting, fly fishing, summers five great grandchildren. He is also paper he could find, he attracted some the Airstream Community. Survivors: UT with a geology degree in 1954. Later at Possum Kingdom Lake, golf, butter, survived by his six previously named of the best friends he could have ever Clydene Watkins married to Ed 65 years. in life, he earned a Master of Business jellybeans, and, most of all, his family. siblings and their extended families. hoped to have. More important, he He was preceded in death by his Children: Carol and her husband Larry Administration from the University of leaves behind his musical compositions Sams, Susan Adams, Bill and his wife Southern Mississippi in 1979. After parents, Jane and T.J. Waggoner, Jr, his Davida Word (Spouse of the late such as, Ol’ MacDonald had a Butt, Vicki Watkins, Diane and her husband graduating from UT, he worked in oil brother and wife, Richard Moore “Dick” Charles F. Word (B.S. ’37)) was his extensive shoe collection, and the David Fonzi, and Denise Watkins. field jobs that took his growing family Kirk McIntosh, a talented marine Waggoner and Lucia Hartgrove born on September 15, 1918, and passed important lesson that life should be Grandchildren: Stephen, Mark and Stacy to Shreveport, La. and eastern Texas. He seismologist who specialized in Waggoner, and his sister-in-law and her away on March 22, 2017. Davida was a measured by the amount of laughter Sams, Shawn Adams, Christopher and was offered a job with the state of Texas mapping and imaging deep-sea trenches, husband, Barbara Wheeler Cullum and resident of Kerrville, Texas at the time and love you share with others. He will his wife Erin Watkins, Brian Watkins to map the groundwater in West Texas, continental margins, and mountain James A. “Old Sport” Cullum as well as of her passing. graduated from Abilene be greatly missed. and Mary DeMoss, Alyssa and her which he did for four years, moving belts, died unexpectedly in Austin at the many wonderful friends. He is survived High School in 1935 and attended

130 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 131 age of 59, after an 18-month battle with subduction zone; and he dove in the Kirk was responsible for the saw a notice on the bulletin board massive heart attack. Peter Flawn, at appointed the president of The leukemia. Kirk, a senior research Alvin submersible to a depth of 4,500 innovation of adapting deep-ocean that the bureau was offering financial age 34, was named the fifth director University of Texas at San Antonio scientist at the University of Texas meters, using Alvin’s robotic arm to imaging techniques to investigate support to Ph.D. students working of the Bureau of Economic Geology (UTSA) in 1973. He would remain at Institute for Geophysics, passed on collect samples on the ocean floor. Kirk continental structure. His project in in Texas. His bureau assignment on in its 52nd year of operation. At that UTSA for five years. When he arrived June 1, 2017. was chief or co-chief scientist on twelve Lake Nicaragua examined a paradigmatic the Precambrian rocks and associated time the bureau had a research staff at UTSA, there were a few planners Kirk was born and raised in Boulder, major marine seismic experiments, a forearc basin with high-resolution mineral deposits of the Van Horn area of 10, five positions of which were at and administrators in rental offices. Colorado, the son of a cryogenic task involving months of prior planning “marine” seismic techniques; another was completed in 1951. Results were the doctoral level. Though modest in Five years later, UTSA was a beautiful engineer and a homemaker. He received and coordination both of multiple ships more recent project on the Mississippi published in a Bureau of Economic size, the bureau had a long history of 600-acre campus, with 300 faculty, a Bachelor of Science in geophysical and scientists from different countries. River near New Madrid located faults Geology publication authored jointly publication and through the years had 8,800 students, and all infrastructure in engineering from the Colorado School He wrote his last grant between rounds related to intracontinental historic by Flawn and King. The first part of a number of prominent geologists on place; first classes started in 1975 under of Mines in 1980, then began his of chemotherapy and succeeded in earthquakes. Whatever the location, the study — Pegmatites of the Mica its staff. During his 10 years as bureau Flawn’s watch. career as an exploration geophysicist getting funding. Kirk’s scientific claims, supported with Mine Area, Culberson and Hudspeth director Flawn managed to maintain Peter returned to Austin in 1977 for at Atlantic Richfield in Plano, Texas. Kirk’s particular gift was in high-quality imaging data, were careful, Counties, Texas — was the subject of the strong tradition of basic and applied a research leave 19 years in the making, In 1986 he left the petroleum industry processing marine seismic data. In the clear, and solidly logical. Flawn’s dissertation at Yale, where he research while moving the bureau but in short order he was serving as for graduate school at the University of Middle American subduction zone, he An easy-going and humble man, Kirk received his Ph.D. in geology in 1951. into certain policy areas and later into acting director of the University of California, Santa Cruz. There, under Eli produced detailed seismic images of was also sociable, opening his house His Precambrian work evolved into an environmental geology. Seeing the need Texas Marine Science Institute and Silver’s supervision, Kirk investigated dewatering sediments, normal faults, to relatives, friends, and students. He interest in basement rocks, where Flawn to communicate with policymakers and acting chairman of the Department the tectonics of the California margin and fluid seeps, documenting the was an enthusiastic gourmand, and he began subsurface work, coupled with the general public, he launched the first of Marine Studies. In 1979 he was and the Costa Rica subduction zone. stratigraphic response of the forearc successfully imitated at home the dishes surface geology work in the Franklin Annual Report, a series that continues appointed president of The University When he finished his Ph.D. in 1992, he to plate deformation and clarifying he had sampled on his travels around Mountains and Sierra Blanca area. The today. Flawn maintained research and of Texas at Austin, a position he joined the Institute for Geophysics at processes of sediment underplating the world. But Kirk was above all a results of that work were published by lectured frequently, coloring many would hold through 1985. Early on the University of Texas at Austin, where and seamount subduction. In his (co- dedicated husband and father, and his the Bureau under the title “Basement of his talks with provocative titles as president, Peter declared a “war on he spent the rest of his career working led) active-source seismic study of the family was always his foremost concern. Rocks of Texas and Southeast New such as “borehole myopia,” “granite mediocrity,” which would earn him a on a variety of tectonic problems in collision that created Taiwan, a collision He was simply a great human being. He Mexico.” He was to chair a major wash is hogwash,” and “too much oil piece in Doonesbury. He was later to settings as structurally diverse as the between the Luzon arc and the rifted is survived by his wife, Diana Chavez committee of the American Association in the eyes of Texas?” Flawn wrote admit to only one vice — a passionate Mississippi River, New Zealand, and the margin of the South China Sea, Kirk McIntosh, whom he married in 1989; of Petroleum Geologists compiling data two books while serving as bureau addiction to Doonesbury, saying that he deep ocean trench near Taiwan. demonstrated that the extensional his daughter, Julia McIntosh, a graduate for a basement rock map of the United director — Mineral Resources: Geology, had quit smoking (Roi-Tan cigars and a An especially skilled hand in the field, faults and crustal blocks that form when student in hydrology at Southern States, a project that was ultimately Engineering, Economics, Politics, pipe) and alcohol gave him a headache. Kirk was a sought-after collaborator. He a new ocean opens also play a large role Methodist University in Dallas; and his completed by Bill Muehlberger. Law, published in 1966 by Rand Peter Flawn pushed the university mapped ocean morphology; he drilled when oceans close, in this case forming son, Victor McIntosh, a sophomore at In the latter part of the 1950s Peter McNally, and Environmental Geology: to pursue greater academic rigor and for core samples into the Costa Rica a new mountain belt. Concordia University in Austin. pursued an extensive subsurface Conservation, Land-use Planning, and excellence. He was to comment upon and surface study of the Ouachita Resource Management, published in the occasion of receiving the Santa System, a largely concealed belt of 1970 by Harper and Row. He published Rita Award in 2001 that “there is deformed Paleozoic rocks that borders a paper in 1966 titled “Geology and the abroad in the land an extreme form of the southern edge of the Central New Conservation Movement,” which egalitarianism that holds that excellence President & Faculty Stable Region of North America in anticipated the national concern for is undemocratic. This is a particularly Peter Tyrrell Flawn, prominent PETER TYRRELL FLAWN the same way that the Appalachian environmental issues that were to come insidious doctrine that takes political system delimits the eastern margin. in the late 1960s and later. form in attempts to divert resources geologist, prolific researcher and 1926 – 2017 author, and renowned leader in higher Results of that effort were published When Peter Flawn was appointed from public flagship universities. education, died May 7, 2017, at age 91. by the Bureau in 1961 as part of the bureau director he was also named It holds that all public universities Peter Flawn was a native of Florida University Publication series. Flawn a professor in the Department of should be equal. After all, a university but grew up in New Jersey. In 1943, at was senior author with co-authors Geological Sciences and would later is a university and they all award the age of 16, he was offered admission August Goldstein, Philip King, and C. serve as professor of public affairs in degrees. Having spent a half-century and a full scholarship to Oberlin College. E. Weaver. And Flawn was to initiate the LBJ School of Public Affairs. An building universities that is to me a In just 6 years he completed a B.S. at work in northern Mexico with a paper active participant in the affairs of the most repugnant view. Excellence is not Oberlin, which was interrupted midway on metamorphic rocks in the Sierra del department, he taught a course on undemocratic! It is precisely through with a stint in the U.S. Army Air Carmen of Coahuila, Mexico. His love of mineral resources and supervised a the recognition and reward of merit and Corps, worked a summer for the U.S. Mexico and its metal mineral resources number of graduate students, mostly achievement that democratic societies Geological Survey, and completed an was a longtime affair. He became fluent doctoral aspirants. have triumphed. If we as a society come M.S. degree and residence requirements in Spanish and in 1964 while a Visiting In 1970 Flawn left the bureau to believe that the quest for excellence is for the Ph.D. at Yale. At age 23, he Professor of Geology at the Instituto to launch what was to become an somehow undemocratic, the intellectual embarked on a career as a research de Geología, Universidad Nacional impressive career in higher education integrity of the university is at risk.” geologist at the Bureau of Economic Autónoma de México, he proudly administration. That year he was Those were words Peter Flawn lived by. Geology at The University of Texas at Peter’s first assignment at the Bureau Texas — became his dissertation, which lectured in his acquired tongue. appointed vice president for academic While president, Flawn convinced Austin. Peter Flawn was a quick mover — studying the geology and resources was supervised by the legendary Philip In the fall of 1960, Bureau director affairs and in 1972 rose to Executive the regents to establish a program of early on, and he never slowed up. of the Van Horn area in Trans-Pecos B. King. In fact, it was at Yale that Peter John Lonsdale died suddenly of a vice president at UT before being matching private gifts to the university,

132 | Jackson School of Geosciences 2017 Newsletter | 133 and during the Centennial Celebration Institute Advisory Council, the College direction of that critical committee. Campaign, which he launched, the of Natural Sciences Advisory Council, Peter was always involved in the number of faculty endowments rose the UT Press Advisory Council, the professional geological societies, from 112 to 851. Sponsored research McDonald Observatory and Department serving as president of the Association 2018 CONTRIBUTION FORM grew to $100 million, or $225 million of Astronomy Board of Visitors, the of American State Geologists, the in current dollars. The Academic Center Institute of Latin American Studies, Geological Society of America, the next to the Main Building was renamed Mexican Center Advisory Committee, American Geosciences Institute, The support of many drives the success of the Jackson You may make your donation by completing and the Peter T. Flawn Academic Center in Laguna Gloria Art Museum Board, and the first president of the Austin 1985 when Peter retired and became Yale University Council Committee Geological Society. Appropriately, School. Your contributions can touch the lives of returning this form with your gift in the envelope provided. president emeritus. on Physical Sciences and Engineering, Peter was honored by his professional students, further our research mission and help us If your employer matches charitable gifts, please obtain Much of what The University of Texas and the Foundations of the American peers. He was elected to the National realize our vision of becoming the preeminent geoscience the form from your human resources department and at Austin is today owes to the direction, Geosciences Institute and the Academy of Engineering and The program in the country. enclose it with your contribution. Donors of $10,000 guidance, and insight of Peter Flawn. Geological Society of America. Academy of Medicine, Engineering Contributions are tax-deductible and may be mailed to or more (including cumulative matching gifts) are At 60, Flawn knew that retirement As if those activities did not fully and Science of Texas. He received an was not his style. He found time to occupy his time, in 1997, at age honorary doctorate from Oberlin and the Development Office, Jackson School of Geosciences, recognized as members of the Hill Society. Our goal is write four more books — A Primer 71, Peter Flawn agreed to serve as a Presidential Citation from UT. He 2305 Speedway, Stop C1160, Austin, Texas 78712-1692. to raise JSG alumni-giving participation to 15 percent, so for University Presidents: Managing President ad interim while UT began received the Cross Medal from Yale, Please make checks payable to The University of Texas every gift counts. the Modern University, a memoir on a search for a new leader. He resigned the Parker Medal from the American at Austin. Stocks and bonds may also be assigned to The Whether or not you send a contribution, please use his days as Texas geologist with the from the many corporate and nonprofit Institute of Professional Geologists, University of Texas at Austin. For your convenience, a the back of this form to submit alumni news for the next Bureau of Economic Geology, another boards on which he was then serving the Lamar Medal from the Association on his experience in heading the and accepted a salary of $1. The only of Texas Colleges and Universities, the postage-paid envelope is inserted with this edition of Newsletter. Please stay in touch! Texas National Research Laboratory condition he made was that it be Campbell Medal from the American the Newsletter. Commission and the quest for the understood he was not going to mark Geosciences Institute, and the Santa Superconducting Super Collider, and time as a caretaker, as if anyone would Rita Award from The University of finally a book recalling his sojourn ever imagine otherwise. He launched Texas System. Flawn received the Contributor Information Contribution Options into northern Mexico and opening a another capital campaign with the Condecoracion de la Orden del Sol silver mine with his good friend Phil ambitious goal of raising $1 billion. del Perú. He held the Barrow Chair in Beckley. He remained active in affairs He dealt with the fallout from the Mineral Resources and the Regents Name m Check or money order enclosed. Please make checks payable of the university and the state and Hopwood v. Texas decision banning Chair in Higher Education Leadership to The University of Texas at Austin. maintained close contact with Texas racial considerations in admissions. at UT. Address Check # Check amount $ and university leaders, who frequently His wife called it his “second coming,” Perhaps his greatest achievement was sought his counsel. but Flawn called it “waiting for Larry.” convincing the engaging and vivacious City State Zip m Charge my credit card: He served on 15 corporate boards Flawn recalled that when Larry Priscilla Pond to marry him in 1946 and m Visa m MasterCard m Amex m Discover of directors, some while president Faulkner walked into the President’s be his life’s companion and counselor Country of UT, but most afterward. He was Office, he was pleased to be able to for 70 years. She was the First Lady $ one-time charge OR Deduct $ sought after by numerous noncorporate deliver to him an institution without of UT, and he would be the first to If we have questions, how may we contact you? per month until OR until further notice organizations as well. He served on the the burden of unmade decisions. say that without her he would have Advisory Board of the National Defense Of Peter Flawn’s wide interests and accomplished but a fraction of what Phone ( ) Fund, the Texas Nature Conservancy involvements, he was a geologist at he did. When he lost her a year before CC # Exp date Advisory Board, the Governor’s Energy heart, and he kept his dedication to the his own death, he was never quite the Council, the Governor’s Advisory geological professional societies and same. Peter lost his youngest daughter, Fax ( ) Name on card Committee on the Superconducting to UT geology, in particular. He long Dr. Laura Flawn, in a tragic car accident Super Collider, the National Science served on the Geology Foundation in 2001. He is survived by his oldest Email Authorized signature Board and the National Science Advisory Council, of which he was daughter, Tyrrell Flawn, and a host of Foundation Advisory Committee, St. an honorary member, as well as the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. David’s Hospital Board, the Southwest Bureau of Economic Geology Visiting It will be long before we see the likes Contribution Opportunities Research Institute Board, as well as its Committee. He worked closely with of Peter Flawn again. Foundation for Research and Education his good friend Jack Jackson, and after and its Center for Nuclear Waste Jack’s bequest was received and the — William L. Fisher $ Friends of Student Field Experiences Endowment Regulatory Advisory Committee on Jackson School of Geosciences formed, Professor and Leonidas T. Barrow Research, the Texas National Research Peter chaired the Jackson School Vision Centennial Chair in Mineral Resources $ GeoFORCE Texas Laboratory Commission, the Texas Committee, created and formed by Scientific Advisory Council, UT Austin President Larry Faulkner. Fundamental $ Friends of the Jackson School Development Board, Department of recommendations were made to the Computer Sciences Development president and accepted by him. The $ Please designate my gift to an area about which I feel strongly (specify): Committee, the Marine Science School owes its existence to Flawn’s

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